2.
884
According to Chinese law nationality depends
on continuity of blood, and if the father is
a Chinese the son is necessarily also re-
garded as a Chinese. Further, unless per-
mission has been received from the Ministry
of the Interior and a certificate granted,
denationalisation is not legally effective.
But according to the laws of other nations
if a person was born in a foreign territory
or has resided in a foreign territory for a
specified period of time and subsequently
registered himself in a foreign Consulate
he is recognised as a national of the country
whete he was born or has resided and it must
be admitted that there is reason in such a
claim to have secured foreign nationality.
This Court, considering that disputes re-
garding nationality greatly hinder justice,
believes that the only satisfactory course
is to have the matter thoroughly thrashed
out with the various Consuls with a view to
finding some satisfactory solution, and I
have therefore the honour to request you to
take up with the Consular Body the question
of this kind of double nationality: how to
deal with persons who have already been registered (e.g. to settle the validity or
otherwise of registrations effected both
before and after the publication of the
Chinese nationality law) and how to restrict
those who may in the future
apply for
....
registration