22-JAN-1991 14:45
DIRECTOR OF ADM.
852 877 0802
P.30
1984]
NATIONALITY LAW OF THE PRC
The Chinese government has always encouraged the overseas Chinese to voluntarily take up the nationality of the host coun- try. And those who have been naturalized shall, like other eth- nic Malays, discharge the same obligations and receive equal treatment under the Malaysian law.”
307
The best example of China's diplomatic efforts to settle the dual nationality problem with the Southeast Asian countries may be found in the 1955 Sino-Indonesian Treaty on Dual Nationality. This compre- hensive treaty, which was intended as a model for similar treaties with other ASEAN countries, requires dual nationals to opt for one of the two nationalities. The treaty provides:
All persons who hold simultaneously the nationality of the People's Republic of China and the nationality of the Republic of Indonesia shall choose, in accordance with their own will, between the nationality of the People's Republic of China and the nationality of the Republic of Indonesia. . . . In addition, all children born in the Republic of Indonesia acquire upon their birth, the nationality of the People's Republic of China if both their parents or only their fathers hold the nationality of the People's Republic of China.100
B. Concrete Measures in the 1980 Law
In general, there are three principal measures through which a country can utilize domestic law to reduce the incidence of dual na- tionality. These measures involve devices applicable to the original ac- quisition of nationality at birth, change in nationality by naturalization and change in nationality caused by a change in personal status, such as marriage or adoption. The elaborate anti-dual nationality devices of the 1980 Nationality Law are found in articles 5, 8, 9 and 13.
Articles 5 and 9 are the most important and effective devices for reducing the incidence of dual nationality among overseas Chinese. Ac- cording to article 5, "a person whose parents are Chinese nationals and have settled abroad and who has acquired foreign nationality at birth does not have Chinese nationality." Moreover, article 9 provides that "any Chinese national who has settled abroad and who has been natu- ralized there or has acquired foreign nationality of his own free will automatically loses Chinese nationality." Applied in conjunction with the wide use of the jus soli doctrine by the ASEAN countries, these two provisions are known to have reduced the population of overseas
99. Id. at 42.
100. Sino-Indonesian Treaty on Dual Nationality (1955), supra note 52.
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