China's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Geng Shuang, criticized the United States for its recent frequent visa denials and travel restrictions on diplomats from certain countries, severely impacting the normal and effective participation of those countries in the work of the United Nations. Furthermore, the US State Department recently emphasized its legal rejection of visa applications related to "birth tourism," prompting Chinese embassies and consulates in China to issue a simplified Chinese notice on their social media accounts.
Xinhua News Agency reported that Geng Shuang mentioned at the United Nations Committee on Relations with the Host Country last Friday (25th) that obtaining visas and freedom of travel are the natural rights of diplomats of various countries' permanent missions to the United Nations. Safeguarding this right is the international obligation of the United States as the host country of the United Nations. However, out of its own selfish interests, the United States has continuously imposed restrictions and created trouble for specific countries on issues such as visas and freedom of travel. This practice of ignoring and rejecting the basic rights of diplomats is disrespectful to diplomats of other countries and is completely inconsistent with the "hospitality" that the host country should have.
He stressed that issuing visas to participants in UN conferences is a legal obligation of the United States as the host country. The United States has no discretion on this issue and cannot adopt discriminatory practices against specific countries based on the closeness of bilateral relations.
Netizens: He curses others and still goes to see a doctor and travels
Geng Shuang pointed out that the US has disregarded the normal and basic needs of diplomats and their families for healthcare, education, and other areas, arbitrarily imposed discriminatory measures, brutally restricted the travel freedom and medical needs of diplomats and their families from certain countries, refused to issue visas to diplomats from certain countries, and recently even intimidated diplomats from other countries. He said: "China, like many countries present, has long been subject to various unreasonable restrictions from the US. We urge the US to immediately reverse its course and stop hindering member states' participation in the work of the UN based on bilateral relations and political factors."
However, many Chinese netizens disagreed and even left sarcastic comments such as "How shameful! You curse at others and then go to their place for medical treatment and tourism. Where is your backbone?", "Domestic demand urgently needs circulation, and you go to the United States for tourism?", "Why do you want to go to the United States? You curse yourselves so vigorously", "Don't you believe in our medical technology and methods?"
In addition to tightening diplomatic visas, combating "birth tourism" has also been a key focus of Trump's second term. During his first term, President Trump intended to change the citizenship rights of children born in the United States on tourist visas through an executive order, and he is now reiterating this plan, continuing to prioritize improving immigration issues.
According to the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868, all those born in the United States are considered citizens. The U.S. State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs posted on its official X account last Thursday (the 24th) that foreign parents using tourist visas to give birth in the United States to obtain citizenship is unacceptable and may result in medical expenses being borne by American taxpayers.
Condemning birth tourism as an abuse of the U.S. immigration system
"This is known as birth tourism, and U.S. consular officials will deny all such visa applications in accordance with U.S. immigration law," the Bureau of Consular Affairs said. Those who abuse the U.S. immigration system through birth tourism may not be able to obtain visas or travel to the United States in the future.
The simplified Chinese notices from the U.S. embassies and consulates in China emphasized that U.S. consular officials are preventing foreign tourists from abusing the U.S. immigration system through "birth tourism." If the applicant's main purpose for applying for a tourist visa is to give birth to a child in the United States so that the child can obtain U.S. citizenship, "then the applicant will be denied a visa."
Birth tourism has long existed in various states of the United States. Many immigrants from countries such as China, Russia, and Nigeria see it as a way for their children to receive education in the United States and have a better future. The U.S. federal government once carried out a large-scale crackdown on the "birth tourism industry" in Southern California. In 2019, a total of three confinement centers were involved in the case and 19 people were prosecuted. The most recent case was the case of Phoebe Dong, a California woman who had assisted Chinese pregnant women to give birth in the United States for many years. She was sentenced to nearly three and a half years in prison at the beginning of this year.
