China's non-recognition policy is related to the major legal
principle of jus
nationality law.
sanguinis, that she adapted in her very first
Non-recognition of the denaturalization of Chinese is
of this legal principle.
very much related to the China's adaptation
Yet one has to keep in mind that jus sanguinis was adapted to serve a
not the other way round. This point is demonstrated
traditional need,
by the fact that, under the Ching regime, China had refused to enact a
nationality law even though it was pressed for decades both by Chinese
nationals abroad and by foreign diplomats, simply because Chings
believed in perpetual allegiance under the Chinese
Rights".
version of "Divine
of jus sanguinis was
One also finds that the legal principle
adapted because of several social-political needs. First of all, as
some observers pointed out, the adaptation of jus sanguinis strengthened
China's hand in dealing with those who abused the naturalization law for
80 their political and economic
In many instances, del-
interest.
naturalized chinese were being used as political and economic tools to
work for foreigners,
without the knowledge of Chinese authorities about
their denaturalization. To adapt jus sanguinis,
with this evil.
China hoped to do away
Secondly, jus sanguinis could assist in combating general political
and economic oppression against Chinese abroad. Without this principle,
the party concerned could claim that the Chinese involved had already
been locally naturalized. Using this principle, China could always
ignore foreign naturalization of her nationals when needed to protect
ethnic Chinese.
Thirdly, the adaptation of jus sanguinis would serve to keep
natural born Chinese always Chinese, thus always an asset to China, both
politically and economically.
For instance, Indonesian Chinese
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