The Chinese government is ending its international adoption program, and the US is seeking clarification on how the decision would affect hundreds of American families with pending applications.
In a telephone call with US diplomats in China, Beijing said it “will not continue to process cases at any stage” other than those cases covered by an exception clause.
The US embassy is seeking clarification in writing from the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs, the US Department of State said on Thursday.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“We understand there are hundreds of families still pending completion of their adoption, and we sympathize with their situation,” the state department said.
At a daily briefing on Thursday, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) said that China is no longer allowing foreign adoptions of the nation’s children, with the only exception for blood relatives to adopt a child or a stepchild.
She did not explain the decision other than to say that it was in line with the spirit of relevant international conventions.
Many foreigners have adopted children from China over the decades, visiting the nation to pick them up and then taking them to a new home overseas.
US families have adopted 82,674 children from China, the most from any foreign nation.
China suspended international adoptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The government later resumed adoptions for children who had received travel authorization before the suspension in 2020, the state department said in its latest annual report on adoptions.
A US consulate issued 16 visas for adoptions from China from October 2022 through September last year, the first in more than two years, the state department report said.
It was not clear if any more visas had been issued since then.
Denmark’s only overseas adoption agency in January said that it was winding down operations after concerns were raised about fabricated documents and procedures, while Norway’s top regulatory body recommended stopping overseas adoptions for two years pending an investigation into several cases.
Beijing’s announcement has also followed a falling birthrate in the nation. The number of newborn babies fell to 9.02 million last year, and the overall population declined for the second consecutive year.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
China has approved the creation of a national nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines, the government said yesterday, as Beijing moves to reinforce its territorial claims in the contested region. A notice posted online by the Chinese State Council said that details about the area and size of the project would be released separately by the Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration. “The building of the Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve is an important guarantee for maintaining the diversity, stability and sustainability of the natural ecosystem of Huangyan Island,” the notice said. Scarborough
RSS