The “baby factory” of Chinese tycoons and the legal loophole that challenges the United States in surrogacy

In front of judges and lawyers, his coldness sparked a debate not only legal, but also ethical and psychological: What drives the ultra-rich Chinese to have multiple children through surrogacy? Is this a new way of strategic reproduction linked to power?

Xu himself boasted on the social networks of his company in China about having a mega-family, where he provoked social condemnation. In 2023 and with great discretion he jumped to the US courts, according to an investigation by the Wall Street Journal.

The lack of federal regulation in the US has allowed magnates from adversary regimes, and especially Chinese inspired by Elon Musk’s natal obsessionwhere surrogacy is prohibited, exploit the American reproductive market to obtain birthright citizenship.

Xu Bo’s case is not only a legal anomaly: Chinese magnates account for almost half of surrogacy in the US, and take advantage of the combination of wealth, biotechnology and legal vacuum with intentions very far from parenthood and with which there is a risk of producing citizens without a community, parents without ties and babies with a US passport.

The SAFE KIDS Act, promoted by Senator Rick Scott in 2024, attempts not only to regulate biology, but also to define what it means to belong to the age of babies by design.

For decades, China has been the most populous country in the world, which is why it imposed the so-called “one-child policy” in 1979 to contain runaway population growth.

That law was repealed in 2015 due to the population aging crisis that affects all countries at a certain point in their economic development: having children is too expensive.

But to the surprise of the rulers, this measure did not stop the collapse of the birth rate.

That of the technobro Xu is one of the many cases of Chinese millionaires who are hiring multiple surrogate mothers simultaneously abroad. His express intention is to ensure male heirs, and to that end he plans his descendants as a model of patrimonial expansion.

This practice has become common among millionaires who want to create diversified dynasties, often without direct contact with their children.

Other cases cited in the Wall Street Journal include the tycoon Zhang Guangmingcon more than 16 children through surrogacyand several entrepreneurs in the real estate and investment sector who use specialized agencies to design selective genealogical lines with guaranteed US citizenship.

These practices take place in a legal gray area, since commercial surrogacy is regulated by each state, without federal control, which has allowed foreign actors to build dynasties
parallel without US government oversight.

These parents view U.S. citizenship as a strategic investment in business, education, and global mobility; also a protection against political instability in China, one of the most encrypted regimes on the planet.

And also a genetic planning family engineering and a long-term dynastic business strategy. The phenomenon is global, it does not only happen in China.

Among the countries with reproductive elites via surrogacy are the US, mainly for reasons of infertility or because they are LGBTQ+ families.

In France, Spain and the United Kingdom, millionaires seek surrogacy in Mexico, Ukraine or Georgia. India and Russia were the epicenter of surrogacy until restrictions were imposed.

40% of surrogacy births in California clinics go to foreigners, with Chinese leading the statistic.

Technonatalism: Musk and Confucius

But among all the global examples, none has been as high-profile or contradictory as Elon Musk, is he a savior father or a technonatalist?

Con 11 confirmed childrensome born through surrogacy and outside of his most visible public relations, Musk has declared: “Demographic collapse due to low birth rates is a greater risk to civilization than global warming.”

He has also said that “intelligent people are not having children, we need them to reproduce”, and also: “I am setting a good example by having many children.”

It is a existential natalismMusk sees birth as a moral and strategic duty. It also has a component of genetic significancebelieves that your intelligence, vision, and values ​​should be perpetuated biologically, even if you do not directly educate your children. and the space colonization: for him, a multiplied humanity is necessary to populate Mars.

This thought is having a great influence among the Chinese elites, because it also links with the Confucian tradition and the demographic crisis. In 2023 China suffered its biggest population collapse in 60 years, when the number of births per woman fell below 1.0.

At the same time, Musk has become a prestigious reference, admired in technological and business circles.

The state-run People’s Daily, considered the mouthpiece of the regime, has described it as a “model
visionary entrepreneur.” And on forums like Weibo or Zhihu, many rich users do so.
they quote literally to justify having more children.

The role of Confucianism In this reproductive and civilizational logic it is undeniable. Traditional Chinese values ​​include respect for ancestors and preservation of family lineage.

The perpetuation of the family name and blood It is considered a higher moral duty. The filial piety It is an act of devotion towards parents and ancestors, and the family It is the core of the social order: a large family is a symbol of stability, power and respect. “To have no children is to dishonor one’s parents,” wrote Confucius.

Musk’s technocratic natalism translates in China into a hypertraditionalist practice reinterpreted with modern meanssuch as surrogacy, selective genetics and simultaneous offspring planning.

The result is a technological, mercantile and Confucian natalism. For Musk and Chinese millionaires, children are a legacy and a symbol of greatness. The future in both cases is not reproduced by love, but by strategy.

Some authors emphasize that these rich people see parenthood as capital, and children as a mark of power: it reaffirms their status as creators, allows them to leave a genetic legacy, and is a projection of the ego and a personal empire.

The reproductive obsession of Xu Bo and other Chinese millionaires is being a cause of concern in Senate committees. Xu is alleged to have used clinics in multiple states, such as California, Nevada or Colorado, to generate multiple simultaneous births between 2020 and 2024. Each of those babies received automatic US citizenship under the 14th Amendment.

Washington sees this as a case of strategic use of the American womb to obtain citizenship through biological means, without real cultural or legal roots. It has also been linked to concerns about espionage, inherited property and transnational legal manipulation.

In the US there is no federal regulation on surrogacy, it all depends on local state laws. This has created a foreign elite reproductive tourism, which takes advantage of the jurisdictional vacuum.

The proposal SAFE KIDS Act requires federal verification of identity and origin, requires that at least one of the parents have legal or citizen residence for the baby to access citizenship
automatically, creates a national registry of births by surrogacy and restricts access to surrogacy to citizens or permanent residents.

The proposal is currently under review.