On September 4, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs China is no longer With very few exceptions, foreign adoption is prohibited. Notified Many of the American families had already been matched with children in China years ago and were waiting to bring them home.
With this shocking announcement, China has nullified ties with American families and their eagerly awaited children. For the affected families, it is a nightmare. For the United States, it is Washington's latest failure to rein in the Chinese Communist Party's worst impulses.
The timing of Beijing's announcement was particularly embarrassing for the Biden administration: China suspended cross-country adoptions on Aug. 28, one day before National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced the Biden administration's decision. Met With General Secretary Xi Jinping.
Xi Jinping's message is clear: the Chinese Communist Party is unmoved by the need for children to be reunited with their families and intends to use them as pawns in a broader geopolitical game.
To be sure, China's calculations were broader than its relationship with the United States. Beijing's demographic outlook is bleak. China's population is Shrunk This is the second consecutive year of decline, and the UN predicts a decline by 2020. Over 100 million people By 2050, these trends will be driven primarily by the “One-child policy” This limited the number of children a Chinese family could have for more than 30 years.
Still, stopping international adoptions would not fix China's demographic turmoil. Until now, China has prioritized children with disabilities, medical needs or health problems, and older children for international adoption. Now, these children will likely end up growing up in institutions without forever families.
Beijing's decision is likely motivated more by pride than pragmatic considerations. Since 2013, Xi Jinping has “The Chinese Dream” His vision is for China to regain its position as the world's number one. “Middle Kingdom” And they are trying to displace the United States as the dominant geopolitical power. Recent Comments Speaking about the Communist Party's education policy, Xi warned his party comrades to be wary of “hostile forces competing for China's children” and spoke of the danger of people “who have a Chinese face but no Chinese heart, Chinese love or Chinese tastes”.
Xi Jinping's Long-standing Concerns about foreign “hostile forces” appeal to national sentiment and ideological commitments and could motivate party cadres eager to implement President Xi Jinping's initiative to restrict international adoption of Chinese children.
Whatever the reason, the episode is a sobering reminder that foreign policy is a deeply personal matter: Strategists often discuss it in the abstract, but it is the most vulnerable among us who suffer most from the whims of bureaucrats and ideological impulses.
Many American families had planned to bring their children home in January 2020, but that month China Zero COVID policyThese families have been waiting more than four and a half years to bring their children home.
“It's really hard to sit here with our hands tied in despair when there are hundreds of families waiting and places available.” Courtney Moore said. An American man who was matched with a Chinese boy. “We love China, we love the Chinese people. Part of my sadness is due to my connection to China.”
As adoptive parents, our hearts break for Courtney and the hundreds of other Americans. Our own lives have been forever changed by international adoption when we adopted our son from India last year. Children grow up in the love and security of a family. The impact of China's announcement may mean that these children will never experience the love, security and permanence of family.
And in many of these cases, children awaiting adoption in China already knew that other families were trying to complete the adoption overseas — a realization that makes the tragedy of Beijing's decision even more profound.
The US Embassy in Beijing Asking for an explanation China's Ministry of Civil Affairs has notified them of the new directive in writing. However, that alone is not enough. The U.S. government should urge Beijing to at least allow waiting families to complete their adoptions. More specifically, President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken should use the high-level diplomatic consultations they have cultivated with Beijing to push this issue forward. Congress, on its part, should stand up for these American families, who are also its constituents.
This is the right thing to do for the children and families waiting, and it will send a clear message to China that America will not sit idly by and allow Beijing to separate American families at its whims.
Chelsea Sobolik has managed government relations for a number of nonprofit organizations, including the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission in Washington, D.C. She is the author of the following books: “Called to Plow: A Gospel Vision for Women and Work” and “Longing for Motherhood: Maintaining Hope in the Absence of Children”
Michael Sobolik is a senior fellow for Indo-Pacific studies at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC. “Countering China's Great Game: A Strategy for American Primacy”
