82.7/12/11
Secret:
+
78
Governments to issue a passport valid for China to a
British subject of Chinese race, however long he may have
been domiciled in British Malaya. The only passport that such a British subject can obtain is one issued by
the Chinese authorities, generally by a Chinese Consul in Malaya, and this fact alone would seem to open the door to
that interference in Malaya by the Chinese Consul which
Your Lordship states should be firmly resisted.
6. In this connection I would refer to Your
Lordship's despatches Confidential (2) dated the 16th
January, 1951, and Secret dated the 17th January, 1931,
on the subject of the abolition of extraterritoriality in China, the former despatch containing a Draft Treaty handed by His Majesty's Minister in China to the Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs on September 11th, 1930, and the latter the text of a draft treaty handed to His Majesty's Minister by Dr. Wang on December 1st, 1930. By agreeing to the draft treaty it is possible that,in the absence of the understanding above referred to, which would define the position of Chinese born in British Malaya whom we claim as British subjects, and who may visit China, we may be abandoning our claim and right to afford
protection to Malayan British subjects of Chinese race.
7. In view of this country's large and increasing population of local born Chinese, a settlement of this matter of dual nationality is of great future importance to the malay an Governments.
The feeling among the Straits Chinese British subjects is that the possession of British nationality does not confer on them the privileges enjoyed by European British
subjects