Recently, the Chinese Communist authorities have made adjustments to their international adoption policy that has been in place for over thirty years, with the exception of special cases, no longer allowing the adoption of children abroad. This news has sparked widespread attention both domestically and internationally.
On September 5th, during a routine press conference at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a journalist from the Netherlands asked about the information released by the U.S. Department of State, stating that China officially halted its international adoption program on August 28, 2024. The journalist sought confirmation and further explanation from the Chinese side.
The spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mao Ning, confirmed the above information, stating that China has adjusted its international adoption policy. Moving forward, aside from cases where foreigners adopt children who are within three generations of collateral consanguinity or stepchildren, China will no longer send children for adoption abroad.
Prior to this announcement, the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs had not declared this significant policy adjustment. This means that non-blood relatives from abroad can no longer adopt Chinese children.
The adjustment of China’s international adoption policy has sparked discussions on the overseas social media platform X.
Commentator Luo Xiang remarked, “Do you know why the Chinese Communist Party is doing this? It’s because over the years, various reports show that adopted children are living better lives, which makes the Chinese government lose face!”
He mentioned, “Don’t forget an important thing, from now on, orphanages will become important sources of organ harvesting! So, if the Communist Party doesn’t act kindly, why should they let you foreigners act kindly? This is just like Mao Zedong back then preferred to let tens of millions of Chinese starve to death rather than accept United Nations assistance! If the Communist Party doesn’t die, disasters will continue!”
Simon Chat believes, “They not only feel embarrassed but also deeply sad; they feel it’s better to stay in the country and harvest organs, no matter what, even a child has a full set of organs worth hundreds of thousands; committing a crime without any leaks, having a child live a better life abroad is an operational mistake, now it’s about correcting their mistake.”
Former Shanghai entrepreneur residing in the U.S., Hu Liren commented, “It seems that the profit from the Chinese (Communist) government switching to the international organ transplantation business is higher, selling the overall profit compared to breaking down and transplanting organs separately.”
Starting in 1979, China implemented its “one-child policy,” a compulsory policy that led to the abandonment of a large number of female infants, who were taken in by orphanages across the country.
Beginning in 1988, China gradually relaxed its international adoption policies, allowing foreigners to adopt Chinese children. The number of international adoptions increased significantly year by year, with most adoptions being by Americans, who were required to pay a substantial fee to the Chinese authorities.
In 2005, China became a signatory to the “Hague Convention” on international child protection and cooperation in the field of international adoption. According to Taiwan’s Central News Agency, in that year, the number of international adoptions in China reached its peak, with over 13,000 children being adopted by foreign families, accounting for 25.49% of the total adoption rate.
According to statistics released by the U.S. Embassy in China in July, the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the U.S. Department of State reported that since the beginning of the 21st century, a total of 82,658 Chinese children have been adopted by American families, accounting for 29.2% of the total number of foreign children adopted by Americans, surpassing the combined total of the second-ranked Russia (46,113) and Guatemala (29,807).
However, the number of adoptions from China significantly decreased in 2019 before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chinese Communist Party suspended international adoptions at the beginning of the pandemic.