A group of Republican U.S. Senators is demanding an immediate end to a visa policy they allege fosters illegal drug trafficking and birth tourism by People's Republic of China (PRC) citizens through a U.S. territory in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean.
“Chinese nationals have been convicted of trafficking methamphetamines to the CNMI,” the April 22 letter states. “Additionally, this policy has enabled birth tourism in the CNMI to continue.”
Birth tourism is the practice of traveling to another country with the specific purpose of giving birth on that foreign land so that the baby gains citizenship.
The CNMI EVS-TAP was created in 2024 under former President Joe Biden.
“Continuing the Biden-era policy of allowing PRC citizens unchecked access to CNMI threatens America’s national security and encourages illegal drug trafficking and birth tourism,” the senators wrote.
EVS-TAP allows PRC nationals to travel to the CNMI for up to 14 days without a visa.
The senators fear China has an ulterior motive in using the program to erode the presence of the United States in the region as it broadens its sights on Taiwan.
“The existing visa waiver policy provides a wide avenue for Communist China to press their advantage,” the senators said. “If Chinese nationals continue to be permitted to enter the CNMI without a visa, they will be a short boat ride away from Guam.”
Guam is another U.S. territory in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean that shares maritime boundaries with the CNMI and the senators describe Guam as a critical U.S. strategic military node in the Indo-Pacific.
The CNMI and Guam are some 1,700 miles away from Taiwan, which is the equivalent of traveling from New York City to Denver.
“U.S. military operations in Guam, and the U.S. service members stationed there, serve to defend American interests in the region and act as a deterrent to China from invading Taiwan,” they said. "Chinese nationals entering the CNMI have been accused of illegally transporting other Chinese nationals from the CNMI to Guam."
Allowing PRC citizens and nationals to enter the CNMI without a visa puts the people of the CNMI, Guam, and Taiwan at risk, according to the lawmakers.
The PRC has a long political history of claiming Taiwan is a breakaway province that they must reunify. That aim intensified after the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949.
"China has made it painstakingly obvious that it intends to seize Taiwan," the senators added. "In a speech last year, General Secretary Xi stated that the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family and that China and Taiwan should be bound by a common sense of purpose and share in the glory and rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Taiwan disagrees."