CONFIDENTIAL
Power of the Chinese Government under the Nationality Law
17. The effect of Articles 14-16 is to give the Ministry of Public Security responsibility for authorising applications for the acquisition, renunciation or restoration of Chinese nationality except where loss of Chinese nationality is automatic as a result of the voluntary acquisition of a foreign nationality (provided for in Article 9). Applications have to be submitted through local Public Security Bureaus within China or diplomatic and consular offices abroad.
Conclusion
18. The main effects of the Law are to confirm and formalise the PRC's non-recognition of dual nationality in respect of persons claiming Chinese nationality and in general to make somewhat clearer the PRC's view on nationality questions in terms which are consistent with its policy of encouraging Overseas Chinese to adopt the nationality of their host countries. For these reasons, the Law could be seen in South East Asian countries as a helpful development. A law of this kind, however, could not in itself allay misgivings in these countries about the ultimate loyalties of Overseas Chinese. The provisions in the Law for the retention of Chinese nationality by Chinese settled abroad and their offspring, as well as those covering qualifications for the acquisition and restoration of Chinese nationality, may tend to perpetuate such misgivings.
March 1982
CONFIDENTIAL