51
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50
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Sex(14)
2
applications for British registration, it will be seen from Enclosure 1* that Mr. Brenan is refusing to entertain them until denationalisation certificates are produced.
5. Mr. Brenan observes that any undue optimism as to the Chinese carrying out their part of the arrangement with a modicum of efficiency and good faith would be misplaced, but it is a good augury for the success of the scheme that in fact one denationalisation certificate has already been issued under the new regulations in the circumstances reported in Canton despatch No. 68 of the 8th May, copy of which was sent direct to you.
6. The second development, to which reference is made above, is at Shanghai. It will be seen from the correspondence enclosed in my despatch No. 267 of the 19th March that on the 31st December, 1927, the Commissioner for Foreign Affairs at Shanghai, in a letter to His Majesty's consul-general, returned to the question of Chinese of dual nationality, with a special reference to civil and criminal cases in the provisional court at Shanghai. The court had suggested that an attempt should be made to solve the difficulties which were constantly arising in its administration of justice owing to the existence of dual nationality, and had proposed that negotiations should be set on foot with a view to arriving at a general and satisfactory settlement of questions of dual nationality both as regards persons already registered at foreign consulates and as regards future applicants for such registration. The Commissioner for Foreign Affairs endorsed this suggestion, and asked that it might be examined. Similar letters had been received by the other consuls in Shanghai, and the question was discussed at a meeting of the consular body on the 18th January, when it was agreed that individual replies should be sent to the Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, informing him that it had been decided to apply to the respective Ministers for sanction to make some arrangement applicable locally in the provisional
court.
7. The Netherlands and Portuguese Legations at Peking refused permission to their respective consuls-general at Shanghai to make a local arrangement of the matter, but Sir Sidney Barton stated that for his part he was prepared, if I agreed, to take action alone and see whether a solution ad hoc could not be found, and he proposed to take as a basis a personal suggestion which was made by the Chinese representatives on the commission set up in Peking last year to examine that part of His Majesty's Government's treaty alteration offer of January 1927 which concerned the application of Chinese law in British courts. This suggestion, which seemed to Sir Sidney Barton to offer a reasonable solution of the question, was that no person of Chinese race should be entitled, while in Chinese territory, to claim British protection unless-
(1.) He has been registered at a British consulate and his name has been
communicated to the Chinese authorities; and
(2.) If he has resided in China for over six months he has, in addition to registration at a British consulate, obtained from the Chinese authorities a certificate of denationalisation.
8. I replied on the 19th March (to Shanghai, No. 40, sub-enclosure in my despatch No. 267) authorising Sir Sidney Barton, subject to the concurrence of the Governors of Hong Kong and Singapore, to explore the possibility of reaching a settlement on the bases proposed, and subject also to a stipulation that certificates of denationalisation should not unreasonably be withheld, and on the same date I wrote to the Governors of Hong Kong and Singapore seeking their concurrence (sub-enclosures in my despatch No. 267). The Officer Administering the Govern- ment of Hong Kong has replied that he concurs (Enclosure 3*), but the Governor of Singapore has made his concurrence dependent on certain conditions (see Enclosure 4*), one of which is that the proposed arrangement does not contain any- thing repugnant to the action proposed in Mr. Pratt's memorandum. This condition can scarcely be considered to be fulfilled, for Sir Sidney Barton's suggestion amounts to withdrawing protection from all Anglo-Chinese who fail to obtain denationalisa- tion certificates within six months, whereas Mr. Pratt's scheme is to continue indefinitely the protection of those persons of dual nationality who have already been registered, but to afford no protection to any other Anglo-Chinese persons at all in future, giving transient visitors at the most a claim to the good offices, advice and assistance of British consuls.
*
* Not printed.
Probably 70 of 12th
дет
received
by
-see fawx. 44 foot wote. (No. 70 met
May-sel
F.C.)
9.
Thus there are now three proposals for dealing with this vexed problem of the protection of persons in China who possess Chinese as well as British nationality:
-
(a.) Mr. Pratt's proposal that, in accordance with our practice elsewhere, we should recognise the validity of the Chinese Nationality Law in respect to all future applicants and refuse registration and protection in China to all such persons who also have Chinese nationality under Chinese law. Persons already registered are to continue indefinitely to be entitled to protection. Transient visitors, on the other hand, will in no case be entitled to full protection, but at the most to the good offices and assistance of British consuls.
(b.) Mr. Brenan's proposal that persons having dual nationality should be invited to secure denationalisation certificates from the Chinese authorities, failing which they would cease to be registered and protected after a certain period, the duration of which is still to be considered. We are already committed to a trial of this scheme at Canton, which has the advantage, as compared with the former scheme, that it would enable the present registers to be placed on a satisfactory basis, but has the same disadvantage that transient visitors are excluded from the full privileges of British nationality.
(c.) The Chinese proposals originally put forward as a personal suggestion to
Mr. Garstin, that no person of Chinese origin shall be protected unless
(1.) He has been registered, and his name has been communicated to the Chinese authorities; and
(2.) If he has resided in China for over six months he has, in addition to registration, obtained from the Chinese authorities a certificate of denationalisation,
This scheme also would enable the present registers to be placed on a satisfactory basis, and it has the additional advantage of making some provision for the extension of protection to the transient visitor. There are difficulties in all three schemes, but they are not necessarily insuperable, and the schemes themselves do not necessarily conflict, but, in fact, seem rather to evolve one out of the other.
10. To consider these difficulties as they appear to me.
11.
I have already referred to the question of transient visitors and suggested that an important defect of schemes (a) and (b) is that no provision is made for this class. Such visitors may be numerous, but are not likely to be a source of great difficulty with the Chinese, while it may be a considerable hardship that British subjects of Chinese descent who are genuinely domiciled in Hong Kong and Singapore should not be able to visit China even for a brief period without being exposed to the peculiarities of a legal or illegal system to which they have ceased to be accustomed. The point is one of concern to the Colonial authorities as affecting the interests of their loyal Anglo-Chinese communities, and the Shanghai scheme provides a solution that may be considered adequate, namely, that transient visitors could obtain full protection for a period not exceeding six months by registering at the British consulate on their arrival in China. It will be for consideration, if this procedure is introduced, what form of passport or other documentary evidence of British nationality should be issued to such persons by the Colonial Governments.
12. As regards persons already registered, proposal (a) contemplates that their protection will have to continue until they die or cease for some other reason to register. The Shanghai scheme provides a solution by which these persons would continue to be protected for a period, so that they may have an opportunity of obtaining Chinese denationalisation certificates, but after the expiry of this period, if they had failed to obtain a certificate, protection would be withdrawn and they would no longer be allowed to register.
13. As regards persons not previously registered who have dual nationality, proposal (a) is that registration and protection should be refused altogether. Hardship might thereby be caused in certain cases, but the introduction of a system enabling these persons to apply, if they so desire, for the cancellation of their Chinese nationality meets a serious deficiency in the Chinese Nationality Law. The efficacy of this system in preventing hardship and in meeting the case of the transient visitor should be greatly enhanced by the interposition of a period of grace, during which Anglo-Chinese would have an opportunity of obtaining Chinese denationalisation certificates, and after which, in the absence of such certificates, they would automatically cease to trouble us.
[594 d-1].
B 2
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