Parentage without borders: resolving international disputes on parentage recognition in China for cross-border surrogacy

Abstract The globalization of assisted reproduction has intensified cross-border surrogacy and generated complex disputes over the recognition of legal parentage. These disputes reveal deep divergences among national legal systems regarding surrogacy regulation and parenthood attribution. Focusing on China—a jurisdiction that maintains a comprehensive prohibition on surrogacy grounded in ethical and public policy considerations—this article examines such conflicts from a private international law perspective. Proceeding from the premise that this prohibition represents a settled ex ante regulatory choice, the article does not seek to challenge China’s restrictive stance but addresses the ex post question of how parentage should be determined once a child has been born through a lawful surrogacy arrangement abroad. Drawing on Chinese judicial practice and comparative jurisprudence, the article analyses tensions surrounding the public policy exception, biological and intentional parenthood, and the limits of existing private international law frameworks. It argues for a child-centred and proportional approach to post-factum parentage determination that mitigates harm to children without legitimizing prohibited conduct.