citizenship

The other night a friend asked about the baby and if they were eligible for Chinese citizenship. Angie and I were a bit surprised. We'd actually never considered it. Of course, the idea would be to try to get some kind of dual citizenship, but the interesting thing to us was that everyone else who had asked this question had asked from the perspective of ensuring that the baby would be a US citizen.

I always tease Angie about our Shanghai-born baby's ineligibilty to become President of the US (Article II), but I'd never seriously thought about it the other way. Can I imagine a lifelong future for the baby here in China only? Could I dream for the baby to be in the Chinese Politburo?

I definitely see a future for us and our family that includes China to a large, large extent. Of course our careers, our personal experiences, etc... have much to gain from that, but Angie and I are also devoted to the idea of giving back to China in some way. To helping China find its way into a bright future. To helping shape that future with the civic (and ethical and moral) gifts that we were blessed with in the US and from our own families.

But for now, there is still a long way for China to go. The rule of law, protection of individual rights, certain human rights and freedoms, are only on their way. I do believe that the current government recognizes that these types of reforms are inevitable for true, long-term stability, but the short-term may not be, and in fact has not proven to be, a straight path.

Simply put, given that our baby can't have dual citizenship (US & China wouldn't recognize it), besides the fact that it would seriously jeopardize my hopes of the little one becoming a US (elected) public servant, could you imagine us choosing Chinese citizenship only over US only? There may be a time when that is a much more difficult question to answer, as China continues to ascend, and sadly, if the US continues to descend (see the recent Bush-Cheney efforts to concetrate power in the executive vis a vis the NYTimes recent series on China's strengthening court system), who is to say that our grandkids might not want more than anything to be born Chinese citizens?