CO129-543-16 China- protection for Anglo-Chinese 13-2-1933 - 13-3-1934 — Page 58

loved to(1)

(2)

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2. The abandonment of this claim on the part of His

Majesty's Government will make the issue of denationalisation

certificates by the Government of China a matter of the very

greatest importance to British subjects of Chinese race in

Malaya. In this connection I note with interest the assurance

given to Sir Miles Lampson on 1st February, 1935, by the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and mentioned in paragraph 6 of

his despatch of 27th February, 1933, quoted supra, that there

would be no difficulty in regard to the issue of denationalisa-

tion certificates and that their issue would be a routine

matter, provided the applications were in order and the require-

ments of the Law were met. I hope that this will be the case

in practice, but I fear that it may become the new battle-

ground between the Government of China and ourselves.

issue of such certificates has been most infrequent in the

past (the Government Gazette of China has recently notified

two cases, one from Canada and one from Hong Kong), but there

has not yet been adequate opportunity to test in Malaya the

value of the assurance given to Sir liles Lampson. What is

wanted is a simplification of the procedure that has to be

followed by applicants for certificates of denationalisation and a reduction of the time required. I would urge that His Majesty's Government should press for such certificates to be issued at Chinese Consulates in Malaya to any person in

possession of a British passport and that the time that should

elapse between the date of application and the date of issue

should be reduced to the minimum.

The

I have the honour to be,

Sir!

Your most obedient, humble servant,

Dovern

Governor.