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1980-would be affected because under the principle of jus sanguinis Chinese nationality would be conferred on the offspring of Hong Kong's ethnic Chinese.
The PRC's position on the nationality of these persons is illus- trated by the recurrent sentencing in China of Hong Kong and Macao Chinese as PRC nationals.1* Additional proof is provided by the re- cently enacted Provisional Regulations on the Identity Cards for Resi- dents, under which Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwanese "compatriots" residing in China are required to carry internal identification cards, a requirement which applies to all PRC nationals.TM**
Thus, the current status of Chinese born in Hong Kong is that of dual nationals: they are British nationals under British law with BDTC and Chinese nationals under PRC law. Since the new Nationality Law will not recognize this foreign nationality, however, these persons will be treated exclusively as Chinese.
C. The Joint Declaration
In considering alternative methods of resolving the nationality question of Hong Kong born Chinese, the negotiators could have looked to models used in past practice by both countries in similar sit- uations. For example, Britain's experience with decolonization may have provided some suggestions, though in this context the PRC would not characterize the transfer of Hong Kong as a decolonization,130 and Hong Kong is certainly not a "colony" that is to become an indepen. dent state. Nevertheless, Britain has resolved the nationality problems of decolonization by simply not addressing them explicitly in treaties; rather, it has allowed the domestic laws of the two concerned states (i.e., those of the former colony and the colonizer) to settle the issue.""
In the past the PRC has had to resolve similar questions of nation- ality with respect to border delimitations and transfers of territory therein. For example, in the Exchange of Notes Concerning the Sino- Burmese Boundary Treaty of 1960, residents of the transferred terri- tory who continued to reside there were to become nationals of the receiving country by default. They were also given the option, exercisa- ble within one year, to retain their former nationality. Inhabitants who declared their preference for the foreign nationality were permit-
128. See Dicks, supra note 112, at 440-41.
129. See supra note 13.
130. See Dicks, supra note 112, at 435-37.
13a
131. Onuma. Nationality and Territorial Change: In Search of the State of the Law,
8 YALI J. World Pub. Ord. 1. 12-15 (1981).
132. See G. Ambekar & V. Divekar, supra note 95, at 202.