686
297-VII.
missioner for Foreign Affairs to Senior Consul.
closure No. 5.
Sir,
364
May 1st, 1922.
·
Under Chapter 3 Article 12 of the Chinese Nationality! Law the consent of the Ministry of the Interior is essential to the validity of a relinquishment of Chinese nationality, and Article 14 of the same Chapter also provides that any person being implicated in a criminal offence or being defendant in a criminal or civil proceeding shall not be permitted to re-
These regulations are per- linquish his Chinese nationality.
fectly explicit, and any person wishing to acquire foreign nationality must proceed according to law.
I have heard, however, that latterly large numbers of Chinese have acquired foreign nationality without obtaining the consent of the Ministry of the Interior to renounce their Chinese nationality and without receiving the necessary certi- ficate, and cases are constantly reported where the change of nationality has been effected with a view to legal proceedings. Proper measures should be taken to check these numerous abus es, and therefore with a view to preventing complications I have the honour to request you to communicate with all the foreign Consuls, desiring them that in future whenever any Chinese applies for naturalisation he shall be required to produce a certificate from the ministry of the Interior permitting him to relinquish his Chinese nationality, and also that the Consulate concerned shall satisfy itself that no criminal or civil proceedings are pending against the applicant.
Awaiting the favour of a reply, I have, etc.,
(signed) Hsu Yuan,