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Eileen Feng Gu, alternatively known as Ailing Gu, is an American-born freestyle skier who has competed for China since 2019. Wikipedia
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The USA allows dual citizenship. China disallows dual citizenship. On paper.
Eileen Gu will retain US citizenship with all its advantages.
China won’t force Eileen Gu to give up American citizenship. The propaganda had huge advantages: See? She competes for China, the Motherland, but not for the USA.
You have heard of a marriage if convenience where someone marries a person of another country to gain Permanent Residency or Citizenship.
Eileen Gu’s Chinese citizenship is a citizenship of convenience.
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Eileen Gu’s decision to represent China paid off, literally
A Victoria’s Secret model and face of the 2022 Winter Olympics turned her back on the US where she was born. This is a big reason why.
3 min read
When Eileen Gu turned on back on the United States in favour of China as a 15-year-old, she could barely have known the political impact the decision would make years down the track.
Gu, the stunning 18-year-old skier who signed with Victoria’s Secret and plans to attend Stanford University after she vies for gold in Beijing, made the announcement in 2019 after her first World Cup win in Italy.
“I have decided to compete for China in the 2022 Winter Olympics,” the California-born teen wrote.
“The opportunity to help inspire millions of young people where my mum was born, during the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help promote the sport I love.”
The ramifications are plain to see now as Gu vies for three gold medals against the backdrop of alleged human rights violations carried out by the country she now represents.
The decision is being scrutinised from all angles. Yes, the teen clearly has an emotional tie to China. But there is a financial element to the decision that cannot be overlooked.
According to the New York Post, Gu has sponsors in the United States including Red Bull, Cadillac, the Apple-owned Beats by Dre headphones and Victoria’s Secret, where she was announced as one of the new faces of the brand last year.
In the pages of Harpers Bazaar, Gu modelled the lingerie brand’s activewear in an image that showed her flying through the air.
She was also on the cover of iconic fashion magazine Vogue in 2021.
But those big names are dwarfed by the deals being made in China, where the national broadcaster, CCTV, has described Gu as “the perfect child next door”.
Others in China have dubbed her the “Snow Princess”.
So far she’s inked more than 20 endorsement deals in her adopted homeland, signing with companies such as the Bank of China, China Mobile and milk company Mengniu.
She is also the spokesperson for Luckin’ Coffee, the Starbucks of China.
According to campaignasia.com, a single endorsement deal with the skier costs about $2.5 million.
— with the New York Post
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Eileen Gu Citizenship Dilemma Throws Up Familiar Questions
China’s Eileen Gu flew into Beijing this week ahead of the Olympics, after travelling from her home in the US. And that last fact – that she still lives in the US despite switching to compete for China in 2019 – made her the subject of a recent article in The Wall Street Journal. Haig and I debate the situation at length in an animated podcast. There are two main issues here:
- For someone who has reportedly renounced her US citizenship, Eileen Gu still spends an awful lot of time in the US – something that may be against US law. [UPDATE: Sources conflict on this, but I’m told it’s possible to renounce and then apply for a tourist visa or even an O or P visa, which would allow longer-term stays.] Conversely, if she does still have her US passport tucked away at home, then China has made a rather large exception to its strict nationality law, which forbids dual citizenship. It’s an issue that has faced several athletes recruited by China in recent years from ice hockey to soccer, and it’s a topic I explore at length in my new book Sporting Superpower. (What’s that? You haven’t downloaded a copy yet?! Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered – click here now!)
2. The second issue is that she’s both Chinese and American, but she can only represent one country in international competition. Her switch from the US to China makes sense for a number of reasons, as I outline in the podcast, but not everyone will agree, and she is sure to draw plenty of heat over the next few weeks as her profile continues to grow.
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Eileen Feng Gu, alternatively known as Ailing Gu, is an American-born freestyle skier who has competed for China since 2019. Wikipedia
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Nationality controversy
Born in the United States to an American father and first-generation immigrant mother of Chinese origin, Eileen Gu has competed for China since June 2019 by requesting a change of nation with the International Ski Federation.[12][13][14] As reported in her athlete profile, she acquired Chinese citizenship via naturalization in 2019 at age 15.[15][12] Her goal was to compete for China in the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics,[15][16] and the Olympic Charter Rule 41 by-law allows for multiple citizenship.[17] In announcing the change, she said that through skiing she hopes “to unite people, promote common understanding, create communication, and forge friendships between nations.”[15][16]
Chinese nationality law does not recognize dual citizenship.[18] The law allows minors of Chinese descent under the age of 18 to apply for Chinese citizenship by having a legal guardian cosign their naturalization application with the understanding that they will not retain foreign citizenship upon approval.[19][20] But the United States does not allow U.S. citizens under the age of 16 to renounce their U.S. citizenship.[21] As a result, it is possible for Gu to hold only Chinese citizenship from the perspective of China while holding dual citizenship from an international point of view.
She did not answer a reporter’s question regarding her status as a U.S. citizen at the time she changed national representation.[22] At present, there has been no evidence of her renouncing her U.S. citizenship per the U.S. Treasury Department‘s Quarterly Publication of Individuals Who Have Chosen to Expatriate.[23] On 1 March 2021, she wrote on Sina Weibo that she was recognized as a candidate for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program from San Francisco University High School in January.[4][1] The scholarship is only open to those who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents by the application deadline.[24] In spite of this, since 2019, much of the media in China has widely reported that she renounced U.S. citizenship at the time she changed national representation.[25][26][27] For a time, her profile on the Red Bull sponsored athletes website also included the claim that she had renounced U.S. citizenship upon naturalization, but this information was removed when The Wall Street Journal inquired regarding its accuracy.[15]
She has received online criticism from one side for her decision to switch national representation and also from the other side for presumably not renouncing her U.S. citizenship as believed to be required by Chinese nationality law.[9][28][29] In interviews, she has said, “Nobody can deny I’m American, nobody can deny I’m Chinese”[30] and “When I’m in the U.S., I’m American, but when I’m in China, I’m Chinese.”[31][32]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eileen_Gu
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weehingthong 