Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: For decades, the media reported how those aspiring for an American green card or citizenship employed various tactics to sneak into the USA. But this Chinese billionaire may have used weaknesses in surrogacy laws to create his own progeny in the USA!
Is it China’s silent coup in the US, or genetic and demographic ‘invasion’ of America?
According to media reports, some Chinese billionaires are turning to US-based surrogate women to father children, sparking questions about citizenship laws and the largely unregulated surrogacy industry in the United States.
At a Los Angeles family court, the media reported on Monday, officials noticed a striking pattern while reviewing routine surrogacy petitions. The same father’s name appeared repeatedly.
Xu Bo, a Chinese videogame executive, was seeking parental rights for at least four unborn children, while court records indicated he had already fathered or was in the process of fathering at least eight more, all through surrogates, The Wall Street Journal reported.
When Judge Amy Pellman summoned Xu for a hearing in 2023, he appeared on a video conference from China, speaking through an interpreter. Xu reportedly told the court he aimed to have “20 or so US-born children through surrogacy.”
His preference, as is common in China’s patriarchal society, was to father boys, because the conservative Chinese believe the boys are ‘superior’ to girls. Xu believed these boys would one day take over his business. Many of his children were being cared for by nannies in Irvine, California, as they awaited travel documents. Xu even dreamed of getting some of them married to Elon Musk’s children!
The judge refused Xu’s petition for parental rights. Attendees of the hearing said that while surrogacy was normally meant to help infertile people start families, Xu’s plans did not resemble traditional parenting.
He has not been publicly photographed for nearly a decade. A representative of his company, Duoyi Network, told the newspaper in an email that “much of what you described is untrue.”
The case highlights an emerging trend of Chinese elites using US surrogates to expand their families, often without ever visiting America. Some wealthy Chinese parents reportedly spend millions on US-based surrogates to create large families in America or even China which is struggling to check depopulation and swift aging, and which has largely failed to encourage the people to have more than a kid.
Nathan Zhang, CEO of IVF USA, said that while earlier clients sought to bypass China’s one-child policy, new wealthier parents now aim to commission dozens, or even hundreds, of US-born children with the goal of “forging an unstoppable family dynasty.” Zhang added that Elon Musk is seen as a “role model now,” referencing the Tesla CEO’s 14 known children.
Other Chinese billionaires have also used surrogacy to produce children with specific intentions. Wang Huiwu, a Sichuan-based education executive, reportedly hired US models and other egg donors to have 10 daughters, with the goal of arranging strategic marriages in the future. The practice has drawn criticism in China, where surrogacy is banned domestically, but enforcement against citizens who go abroad remains limited.
According to the media, experts say the surrogacy market has become highly sophisticated. Clinics, agencies, legal firms and nanny services in the US facilitate the process, sometimes enabling parents to receive children without ever entering the country, at a cost of up to USD 200,000 per child. The issue also involves US citizenship laws, as children born on American soil automatically gain citizenship under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.
Xu has publicly expressed his ambitions online. Accounts linked to him have fantasized about his children marrying Elon Musk’s offspring.
His ex-girlfriend, Tang Jing, has claimed on social media platform weibo that Xi has some 300 children living across many countries.
Duoyi Network responded that the figure was exaggerated, stating that Xu has “only a little over 100” children born through surrogacy in the United States.
The case of Chinese elites shows how international surrogacy raises complex legal, ethical and social issues.
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