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has been born in British territory has not been regarded
as in itself sufficient ground for granting him a British
passport which he might subsequently use in China. I feel
sure that the Foreign Office which is at present, I understand, considering once more the difficult question of the protection of Chinese-British subjects will agree that this policy is wise and helpful to their Consular
Officers in China.
In these circumstances, the practice has
grow up of issuing certificates of identity instead of passports in the case of persons who, though of Hongkong birth, have no assured standing in the Colony. In the present case there is no reason to doubt that Ho Lin Kwai was born in Hongkong but he states that he has been for ten years in Canton and his case appears therefore to be one in which the issue of a passport might have resulted in difficulties on his return to China,
Another class of case in which it is
desirable to issue certificates of identity rather than passports is that in which there is some doubt as to the proof of British birth. Owing to the Chinese carelessness as to registration these cases are rather numerous,
*
In normal times it might be best to refuse to issue any document at all and to let the applicant take out a Chinese passport in Canton or elsewhere and have it visé here, as should normally be done in cases where the applicant is clearly of Chinese and not British nationality. At present, however, owing to the disorganization of China, the doubtful status of various de facto local Governments and the uncertainty as to the validity of passports issued by officers who may be unrecognized by Peking or by Canton this course is often impossible, and therefore in the cases of Chinese subjects, resident in Hongkong, whose entry into
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