How China is paying big bucks to target Ottawa power brokers
'If you want to influence a policy conversation, you don’t necessarily need a mass audience — you need the right audience,' said former Canadian diplomat Alan Kessel, referring to the dozens of editorials China's embassy in Ottawa paid to publish in the niche Ottawa-bubble newspaper The Hill Times
During hearings on birthright citizenship this Wednesday, US lawmakers directed their focus towards China and birth tourism. Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, stated that unscrupulous companies were profiting from providing citizenship to the children of Chinese nationals. Brandon Gill, also a Republican from Texas, claimed that birthright citizenship was being exploited by foreign nationals, particularly those from adversarial nations like China and Russia.
Mary Gay Scanlon, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, dismissed these allegations, arguing that there was no solid evidence of widespread birth tourism. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform reported that around 26,000 babies are born annually to women on tourist visas, with an estimated 70,000 births in 2023 to women as temporary visitors.
However, there is no federal dataset to accurately measure birth tourism, with available estimates indicating it is rare, accounting for less than 0.3 percent of all US births each year.
Written by urgent.news from Reuters Business via SCMP's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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