‘Matter of national pride’: Analysts say nationalism, not population concerns, behind China ending foreign adoptions

SINGAPORE: Ms Chenna Leinders, or Yang Dihuang, was adopted from an orphanage in China’s Hubei province in 2000 when she was just a year and a half old.
“Being adopted has been one of the hardest things I had to deal with in my life, but it’s also one of the most beautiful because it made me who I am today,” the 25-year-old Dutch national told CNA.
She’s but one among tens of thousands of Chinese children taken in by families across the globe since China opened the door to international adoptions three decades ago. But that door is now closed, as Beijing announced earlier this month.
The move is likely fuelled by rising national pride and geopolitical tensions – such as with the United States – as the world’s second-largest economy amps up a push for self-reliance and international clout, analysts say.
While news reports have highlighted the ending of the practice as taking place amid a shrinking population, observers CNA spoke to are sceptical of the link. They say the move will have no meaningful contribution to improving the situation as the tally is too small, plus numbers had already been on the decline.
“The impact of this decision on China’s demographic landscape would be negligible,” said Dr Huang Yanzhong, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and associate professor at Seton Hall University. 
“National image concerns may play a significant role, as international adoptions – while benefiting Chinese orphans – could be seen as damaging to China’s reputation or a source of national humiliation,” he told CNA.
China publicly stated it was putting a stop to its overseas adoption programme on Sep 5, during a daily foreign ministry press briefing.
“Apart from the adoption of a child or stepchild from one’s collateral relatives by blood of the same generation and up to the third degree of kinship by foreigners coming to China, China will not send children abroad for adoption,” said spokesperson Mao Ning.
She did not specify the reasons for doing so, only saying the move was in line with “the spirit of relevant international covenants”.
In a recent editorial, the state-run Global Times described the decision as an “inevitable outcome of China’s development and progress”.
Various media reports have honed in on how the end of the programme comes as China grapples with a shrinking and ageing population. But analysts believe the move has little to do with this.
“The new decision certainly will not impact China’s population decline as the number of adoptions by foreign families is too small to have any meaningful effect,” Dr Zhao Litao, senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) East Asian Institute, told CNA.
Similarly, Dr Huang said halting international adoptions offers “virtually no assistance” in addressing China’s population woes.
Since first opening its doors to international adoption in 1992, China has seen over 160,000 children adopted by families across the globe.
“This figure is insignificant compared to the total number of newborns in China over the past three decades,” Dr Huang said. China had approximately 529 million newborns from 1992 to 2023, based on data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
Instead, analysts see the move as being driven by rising national pride, shaped by the shifting geopolitical landscape – particularly strained relations between Beijing and Western nations like the US.
US families have adopted about 82,000 children, mostly girls, from China, according to the non-profit China’s Children International (CCI). That’s about half the overall tally and the most from any foreign country, the Associated Press reported. 
Beijing is likely worried that the contrast between the status of adopted Chinese children in Western nations and those in China could project Western superiority, Dr Huang said.
He believes the move may also align with President Xi Jinping’s “China Dream” narrative – emphasising national pride and strength, and self-reliance – and that it possibly reflects a growing desire to keep Chinese children within their cultural context and to address orphan care domestically.
“It is a matter of national pride that Chinese kids are not to be adopted by foreigners for a fee,” said Ms Yun Sun, director of the China programme at Washington DC-based think tank Stimson Center.
The cost of adopting a child from China ranges from US$25,000 to US$40,000, including travel, depending on the province the child is from, according to fees listed by various China adoption programmes.
The ban has raised uncertainty for families currently in the process of adopting children from China.
According to the Associated Press, Beijing said in a phone call with US diplomats in China that it “will not continue to process cases at any stage” other than those cases covered by an exception clause. US officials are seeking clarification in writing from Chinese authorities.
“We understand there are hundreds of families still pending completion of their adoption, and we sympathise with their situation,” the US State Department said in a statement on Sep 5.
Holt International, an adoption agency that helped over 7,700 Chinese children join American families, shared the statement on its website while expressing dismay over the development.
“We are heartbroken for the many matched children and families who have been waiting since the suspension of adoption processing at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the agency said.
China suspended international adoptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The government later resumed adoptions for children who had received travel authorisation before the suspension in 2020, the US State Department said in its latest annual report on adoptions.
Holt International added that it will continue in-country programmes for vulnerable children, along with adoption schemes in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Mr Liu Yun, president of Haikou University of Economics and a former official in Hunan, shared his reflections on WeChat. 
He recalled seeing groups of foreigners in hotel lobbies during his time as a government official in Changsha in the 1990s and 2000s, and was initially concerned about how these children would bond with their foreign families. However, his worries faded after reading success stories of adopted children.
He cited examples of notable individuals with adopted Chinese children, such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. 
“No matter how much emotion or regret surrounds policy changes, the fate of individuals is shaped by the times, not the other way around. It’s a reality that cannot be changed,” Mr Liu concluded.
Being adopted has been one of the most difficult things to deal with in her life, Ms Leinders, the Chinese adoptee, told CNA.
“But it is also one of the most beautiful things because it made me the person I am today,” she acknowledged.
She explained how growing up, she struggled with her identity for years despite living a “happy and healthy life, surrounded by loving family and friends”.
“I was neither really Dutch because of my looks, nor really Chinese because I knew nothing about the culture, language, or my biological family,” Ms Leinders shared. She also faced challenges like racist bullying in high school.
The identity crisis left her questioning herself and her biological parents’ decision, leading to depression.
“I got very insecure about being ‘’different’’, so much so that I wished I was never adopted at all.”
But after years of self-reflection, Ms Leinders – now a hotel revenue manager – said she began to “see life more optimistically”. 
“I am comfortable in my skin, proud of the person I am today, and fully accepting everything that happened in the past.”
Online reaction to the news has been mixed in China. On Weibo, comment sections under reports of the policy change saw some users expressing support and empathy, while others chimed in with criticism and approval alike.
“We are richer now, we don’t need foreign families adopting Chinese children,” one user wrote.
Another linked it to population concerns: “We don’t have enough people, so stop the adoptions.” 
Some, however, expressed concern for children with special needs: “It’s a sad case for disabled children.”
Some 900,000 children with disabilities are born in China each year, with many subsequently abandoned by their parents, as CNA covered in a 2017 report. The country logged 17.58 million newborns that year, according to the National Health Commission.
Dr Huang warns that over 50,000 children with special needs will miss opportunities for family life abroad.
“These children are not going to be adopted by domestic Chinese families,” he said, emphasising that 98 per cent of abandoned children in welfare institutions have severe disabilities. 
Dr Huang explained that while domestic adoptions of children with mild disabilities are increasing, many families still hold off on taking in those who are severely disabled due to the higher level of care required, as well as their personal preferences.
The Hague Convention recognises intercountry adoption as a means of offering the advantage of a permanent home to a child when a suitable family has not been found in the child’s country of origin.
Meanwhile, Ms Sun from the Stimson Center pointed out that foreign adoptions have historically incentivised criminal activities like human trafficking.
Concerns over child trafficking in China caught attention internationally in 2006 when The Washington Post reported on a trafficking ring in Hunan, where children were bought for US$400 to US$538 from Guangdong province and sold to orphanages in Hunan.
Still, kidnapping-related trafficking has decreased significantly, Dr Huang from the Council on Foreign Relations noted.
“Most trafficked children are sold by their parents, and the majority are bought by families, not welfare institutions,” he added.
The editorial by the Global Times weighing in on the policy shift also emphasised the Chinese government’s commitment to child protection.
“Any policy adjustments regarding child rights are made with the utmost consideration of children’s best interests … and will help protect orphans’ legal rights under new circumstances,” the editorial stated.
The article also pointed out that as living standards and the social security system improve, more Chinese citizens are willing to adopt domestically, making it logical for the government to adjust cross-border adoption policies.
However, based on statistics released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, there has been a downward trend in domestic adoption registrations. The count was 15,143 in 2018, 34 per cent of the 44,260 logged in 2009.
Mr Wang Jinhua, director of the social affairs department at the ministry, attributed the decline to rapid economic development and the adjustment of the two-child policy, which has led to fewer cases of child abandonment.
The enduring legacy of the decades-long one-child policy also remains a factor in reducing the number of unsupported children in China, analysts say.
Lasting from 1980 to 2016, the nationwide population planning initiative in China limited most families to one child each. Reports indicate many baby girls were abandoned during that time due to parents placing greater value on boys.
The result – a gender imbalance. In 2022, there were 32.3 million more men than women in China, according to official data. 
Official statistics show that the gender ratio at birth in 2022 was 111.1, so about 111 boys were born for every 100 girls, against a global average of 101. This is an improvement from 118 in 2013.
“As long as sons are favoured over daughters, abandoned girls will continue to face an uncertain future,” said Ms Yun.
“How the Chinese government deals with these abandoned girls will remain a question”.
Before the ban, China had already been progressively tightening its foreign adoption regulations over the years. 
In 2006, the eligibility criteria for adoptive parents were raised. In 2017, further restrictions on family size and adoption intervals were introduced. That same year, a new law was enacted, imposing stricter controls on adoption agencies.
Dr Huang noted that international adoptions have had little impact on domestic adoptions in China.
At its peak, 51,000 Chinese children were adopted annually, with only 25 per cent of these being international adoptions.  By 2020, that number had dropped to less than 0.6 per cent, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
The recent policy shift also raises critical concerns for orphans in China, he noted.
“Despite a large orphan population, no new measures to encourage domestic adoption, especially for disabled orphans, have been introduced.”
According to official data, there were 534,000 unsupported children in China as of the third quarter of 2023, including 146,000 orphans. It marks an increase over the years – the tally was 254,000 in 2020, before rising to 365,000 in 2022.
The provinces of Guangdong, Hunan and Henan have the highest figures. Guangdong logged 29,000 unsupported children while the latter two recorded 28,000 each at the end of 2022. 
For Ms Leinders the Chinese adoptee, the news comes bittersweet.
“On one hand, I am a proponent of national adoption and do think the child should stay closest to its roots. Especially in China, where the majority of children in these orphanages aren’t real orphans,” she said.
“But on the other hand, I will be part of that last generation that got adopted (overseas) and I can’t help but feel scared that we might be forgotten by China.”
In 2009, Ms Leinders returned to the Hubei orphanage to meet her caregivers.
Fifteen years on, older and wiser, she is set to return once more to further uncover her roots.
“Hopefully (I’ll) find some answers about my past.”