Wealthy Chinese couples are implanting their embryos into American women so their children can be born as US citizens, The Post has learned.
asserted
Post → implant → citizens
The service is provided by a surrogacy agency, Patriot Conceptions, which operates between China and the US and has been accused of hiding details of who the biological parents are from surrogates.
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parents → provide → surrogates
Women who carry babies for the agency are recruited informally through social media and collect between $60,000 and $120,000 dollars for their services.
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who → carry → services
The children are then swept off by their parents to be raised in China, where it is seen as a status symbol among the wealthy to have a child able to claim US citizenship.
uncertain
it → sweep → citizenship
Incredibly, such a service is completely legal, thanks to free-wheeling surrogacy laws and liberal interpretations of the birthright citizenship clause in the Fourteenth Amendment, recently reaffirmed by the Supreme Court.
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service → reaffirm → Court
Patriot Conceptions is run by a high-energy US Army vet named Haotian Bai—who founded the international surrogacy agency and last year received a prestigious fellowship from top Republican think tank, which describes him as a “pioneering entrepreneur in the third-party reproduction” sector.
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which → run → sector
Bai’s Irvine, Calif.-based Patriot Conceptions grabbed headlines last week when a surrogate identified as “Judy” came forward when she discovered she was carrying the child of reclusive Chinese billionaire Xu Bo, who has allegedly sired over 300 children.
uncertain
who → grab → children
The surrogate only learned who the father was after being informed by CBS News.
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father → learn → News
She said she had responded to an Instagram ad for Patriot Conceptions, who arranged the surrogacy.
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who → say → surrogacy
The company said it had only arranged that surrogacy on Bo’s behalf and “the surrogate deserves to have her concerns taken seriously,” according to CBS.
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concerns → say → CBS
In a 2024 profile on the US Chamber of Commerce’s website, Bai claimed his company helped thousands of parents have children via surrogacy, and 40 percent of his clients were “international.”
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percent → claim → clients
A review of the company’s promotional materials suggests those international clients are almost entirely from China.
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clients → suggest → China
The company offers Chinese or English versions of its website and instructs visitors that the best way to get in touch is through their WeChat channel—China’s most ubiquitous messaging app.
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way → offer → channel
The website also maps the 25 states providing a “generally supportive posture” for the child to easily obtain US citizenship, advising foreign parents to familiarize themselves with the laws in each state when selecting a surrogate.
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child → map → surrogate
Only one state, Louisiana, is colored black for “restrictive or unresolved posture.”
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state → color → posture
When contacted by The Post, Bai said: “We do not disclose client demographic breakdowns.
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We → contact → breakdowns
We collect intended parents’ nationality at intake and disclose it to the surrogate during matching.
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We → collect → matching
“A parent’s foreign nationality … does not by itself establish that obtaining citizenship is the purpose of an arrangement.”
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obtaining → establish → arrangement
Bai, 37, previously built a US-based surrogacy company catering to Chinese parents in 2019, called Pacific Surrogacy.
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Bai → build → 2019
It was also based in California, which has among the nation’s loosest surrogacy laws.
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which → base → laws
A lawsuit between Bai and his then-business partner, Yulun Jiang, reviewed by The Post revealed the company’s financials were all run out of China.
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financials → review → China
Bai also recently launched a mysterious app called TrustUS, which describes itself as “a Software as a Service company” which facilitates international bank transfers and payments.
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which → launch → transfers
Patriot Conceptions’ base cost for future parents is listed as $120,000–$200,000.
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cost → list → 120,000–$200,000
Typically, Chinese parents come to the US on a tourist visa to complete their embryo work, although in some cases, parents will simply ship embryos from their home country to the US, where they can be implanted in American surrogates.
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they → come → surrogates
Sources tell The Post Bai arrived in the US around 2012 from Lanzhou University in Central China to pursue a master’s degree in environmental engineering—an eco-friendly pollution management field—at Iowa State University.
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Bai → tell → University
Bai graduated from the program and “joined the Army to get citizenship,” a former colleague told The Post, which at the time was welcoming non-citizens to enlist in exchange for fast-tracked Green Cards.
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which → graduate → Cards
“The Army was recruiting Chinese students to join the officers program.
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Army → recruit → program
When he joined the military, I was proud of the guy.
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I → join → guy
He seemingly did extremely well in the military,” the source said.
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source → do → military
“I knew him as a hardworking, decent fellow.”
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I → know → fellow
Bai climbed to the rank of lieutenant and his service brought him to Hawaii, where he lives today.
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he → climb → Hawaii
In 2019, Bai was identified as a “Hawaii realtor” in local reports, and was accused of selling Hawaiian legislative internships to students from China for $5,000-a-pop.
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Bai → identify → 5,000
“All of a sudden, I started getting these Chinese interns, assigned to my office somehow.
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interns → start → office
I still don’t really understand how that happened.
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that → understand → ?
“I remember scratching my head and I asked how these interns came to my office and why.
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interns → remember → office
I didn’t ask for them or approve them,” former Hawaii House of Representatives member Matthew LoPresti of Oahu told The Post.
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LoPresti → ask → Post
The intern swarm was particularly unnerving, said LoPresti, because of sensitive national defense work his office was engaged in.
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office → say → work
After a false ballistic missile threat was erroneously circulated in 2018, LoPresti’s office became heavily involved in Hawaii’s missile defense program.
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office → circulate → program
He was also working for the FBI on counterintelligence, he told The Post.
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he → work → Post
Just before the interns showed up, “I started having all these meetings with generals and getting security briefings at the military intelligence headquarters up in Camp Smith,” said LoPresti.
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LoPresti → show → Smith
…and 22 more, not listed.
The Aporia
