Trading Babies

I recently learned about a new fad called Maternity Tourism. That’s where wealthy women, primarily from China, travel to America at the end of their pregnancies to have their babies here, ensuring they are born American citizens. They fly here on legitimate travel visas, stay in boutique hotels that are set up with nurseries, have their American babies at American hospitals, and then, after their recovery period, they return home with their little Yanks. Click here for a short CNN video on the topic.

image from Dreamstime.com

Yep. Arrive pregnant. Leave with an American citizen.

So when I first heard about this, I thought, “Wait a minute! That is soooo not cool.”

American citizenship is a first class privilege, not a Plan B. Immigrants who come here to identify with American laws and ideals and to contribute to the well-being of this country with their time, talents, and loyalties are the people who keep our country young and vital in a changing world. But immigrants who come to take advantage of our bounty while maintaining their first identity and loyalty to other countries . . . those immigrants bleed us of our vitality without contributing any value that supersedes the harm they cause. Allowing people to illegally use us while simultaneously spitting on us is just mental. Maternity tourism, at first glance, fell into that latter category to me.

And then I gave it a second thought. . . . Hey, why not? It’s not like Americans don’t fly over there to bring home Chinese babies. Besides, these women are coming here legally. They are paying for the goods, services, and health care they receive, and they are abiding by the terms of their visas and going home with their babies. They are not using their babies as anchors to legitimize their illegal presence in America. We should be thanking them for being good and responsible tourists.

Not only that, but these new little Americans can serve our country in a unique mission. They can help us balance the trade deficit with China. . . . Think about it. The USA currently has a $270 billion trade deficit with China. That means we buy around $270 billion more clothes, machine parts, and unnecessary plastic objects from them than we sell to them.

Now, there are roughly 341 million family households in China, approximately one-fourth of its population. If each of these 341 million families has an American child growing up in China, those kids will eventually translate into 341 million American adults contributing to the functioning of Chinese society. In all fairness, the labor and money collected by American citizens on Chinese soil should apply toward balancing that trade deficit.

Our US government needs to start negotiations now to ensure that our American-Chinese citizens will receive an American standard of fair labor treatment, and at least an American federal minimum wage for their services. Consider that the children of China, for all practical purposes, can begin to work and contribute to society’s functioning as early as 3 years of age. I’m not making this up. Check Google Images with the search “Chinese Child Labor.”

But we’ll be charitable and round that up to a generous 10 years, since these are American citizens we’re talking about.

Now, let’s put this all together. If 341 million American-Chinese children begin earning $7.25 per hour, forty hours per week, 50 weeks per year, in just 10 years they will be worth, collectively, $4.945 trillion annually to the nation of China. Look at our trade deficit now! Who knows? Perhaps we will earn China’s Most Favored Nation Status.

Considering the benefit to our country from having 341 million American-Chinese children reversing the trade deficit back in our favor, we should not discourage these clever tourists from purchasing the benefits of our establishment. In fact, we should actively encourage them, and even thank them. Personally, I think these new mothers should receive a complimentary mani/pedi upon arrival in the USA—something every pregnant woman enjoys—and a baby gift in the form of a child’s pet to take home with them at their departure. . . . A pregnant Imperial Dwarf Deer.

Imperial Dwarf Deer (formerly known as a muskrat), image from Alan D. Wilson, www.naturespicsonline.com

What do you think of Maternity Tourism? Do you think it’s ok since these women are following our laws? Or do you think our laws should be changed? How would you change those laws? And what other appropriate baby gifts can you think of to give these folks?

All the best to all of you for finding the silver lining.

Piper Bayard—The Pale Writer of the Apocalypse

British Drug Pushers in China — The Second Opium War

My spy novel writing partner, Holmes, is a man with experience in intelligence and covert operations and, as such, is an ardent student of history. After all, we can’t understand why people go to war now if we don’t know why they went to war in the past. Last week, he began the sordid tale of the First Opium War, in which England pushed opium produced in India onto China to balance its trade deficit with that country. Today, Holmes continues with the rest of the story.

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British Drug Pushers in China — The Second Opium War

By Holmes

The Second Opium War was not long in following the first. The Chinese were careful not to directly assault the Europeans and their ships in the trade ports, and they respected the British border at Hong Kong. But they tried to throttle the Europeans by punishing any Chinese citizens who conducted business with them.

The British developed the bad habit of allowing Chinese ships that were doing business with them to re-flag their ships under British registry so that the Chinese government would leave them unmolested. This practice of liberally allowing foreigners to re-flag their ships under another nation’s registry almost always leads to trouble.

In 1856 the British-flagged, Chinese-crewed ship, Arrow, was seized by the Chinese in Canton. It had been engaged in piracy. The British registration had expired, but the Governor of Hong Kong reacted by bombarding the port of Canton and demanding the release of the crew and the ship. The Chinese caved in and released the crew.

The French decided to join the British in demanding not only Chinese adherence to the treaty of Nanking, but further privileges, as well. The Chinese still refused to allow foreign embassies to be set up in Peking and played the “delaying game.” They agreed to terms, but would then refuse to implement the terms.

In 1859, a small British naval force attempted to take Tientsin. They discovered that it was, indeed, possible to underestimate the Chinese military, and they were repulsed by efficient Chinese artillerymen. The US Navy had a squadron in the area, and they assisted the British in their withdrawal.

In a rare moment of 19th century French and British cooperation, a force of 11,200 British soldiers and marines and 6,900 French soldiers joined together in Hong Kong. Although vastly outnumbered, this joint force was able to progress toward Peking with little trouble.

As they approached Peking, the Chinese requested a peace parley and a truce. The British sent a negotiating team to Peking, but the Chinese government arrested and tortured them, killing about half of them. The joint expedition then engaged and defeated 32,000 brave but poorly armed Chinese troops and prepared for an assault on the emperor’s palace in Peking.

The Chinese government had run out of options. If they attempted a retreat from Peking, they likely would have been deposed by other Chinese factions. As a result, the Chinese agreed to all demands. Ten more trade ports were opened to European ships. Foreigners, including Catholic and Protestant missionaries, were granted travel privileges in all of China. Opium was legalized and would be regulated by Chinese customs officials with European observers allowed in Chinese customs facilities. The Kowloon area across the straits from Hong Kong were ceded to Great Britain. The Russians took advantage of the Chinese disarray after their defeat at Peking and ceased the northern Chinese maritime areas, including Sakhalin Island.

Shanghai opium den

The British stopped their opium trade in China in 1918, but by then, opium production had taken root in China, and the opium drug lords became completely indigenous and independent of foreign sources. The effects of the use of opium in China are difficult to calculate, but, in my opinion, it had a devastating result on the economy and on the government. Drug money was a sizable force for corruption in China, and that epidemic of government corruption left China in political and social turmoil for over a century.

In the 1920s, the enterprising Chinese “green gang” manufactured heroine pills that were sold as a “cure for opium addiction.” In 1928, when heroine was banned in western nations, Chinese drug lords set up their own production facilities and expanded heroine distribution throughout China, Korea, and parts of southeast Asia. The Chinese drug cartels had immense wealth and power and political groups allied with them to gain power.

The nation of Japan never would have been able to invade Manchuria and capture so much of China in the 20th century had China not been in a state of chaos. Opium was a prime force in the creation of that chaos. With them, the Japanese brought a new level of human misery to China. Approximately 20,000,000 Chinese people died as a consequence of the ruthless Japanese occupation.

The use of opium in China continued until the communist government took over all of mainland China in 1949. I have never been a fan of the Chinese Communist junta, but I must give them credit for finally outlawing opium and heroin in China.

European traders could not have foreseen the long-term effects of opium sales in China. But in my view, China has not yet fully recovered from the impact of opium and heroin use there prior to 1949. When I look south from the United States to Mexico, I see a political situation that resembles China in the 1920s. I wonder what the outcome will be.

What are your questions on the Opium Wars or your speculations about the future of Mexico in light of history?