US federal agents launched dawn raids on Tuesday on dozens of Chinese "maternity hotels" in Southern California where many Chinese nationals are charged up to $50,000 by birth tourism operators for arranging their US travel.

The latest raids are reportedly intended to gather evidence of visa fraud, marriage fraud and tax evasion by these Chinese tourists.

As one of the few countries to offer birthright citizenship, the US has long-attracted people from Latin America and Asia to give birth on American soil. But the latest move, which may be the largest of its kind, touches the nerves of both Chinese and US people.

Many US commentators believe that maternity tourism exploits a loophole in the 14th Amendment and these babies take advantage of US taxpayers' dollars while their parents make little contribution to the country.

Comments by Chinese netizens reflect their concerns about the reality. Most Chinese parents who choose maternity tourism are eying US citizenship, which they think can help secure a quality education for their children in the future and these children can also apply for a green card for their family when they turn 21.

Maternity tourism violates neither Chinese nor US laws, but is conducted in the gray areas of morality. Having a US-born child at high cost doesn't bring an end to the worries of Chinese parents as they have to deal with follow-up issues like dual nationality, given the different systems of offering citizenship by China and the US, and the resultant schooling problems.

Besides, good educational resources don't necessarily create a better future for a child as guidance from parents is critical.

An increasing number of Chinese women choosing to give birth in the US is not something to be proud of. It is an indication that the public is generally dissatisfied with social welfare.

China is endeavoring to deepen reforms in an array of sectors and great efforts are being made to improve people's wellbeing to enable them to access better education, environment and social security.

The two sessions, a major political event in China, is being held now.

It can be expected that in the coming years, more measures will be made to improve Chinese people's livelihoods and consequently the welfare gap between China and the US may narrow. It can also be expected that Chinese parents will have more faith in their country and choose to have babies in China instead of squandering a lot of money and taking risks on their trip to the US.