22-JAN-1991 14:43
DIRECTOR OF ADM.
852 877 0802
P.28
1984)
NATIONALITY LAW OF THE PRO
305
out of China, to the tolerance of emigration and dual nationality, to the current Government's encouragement of overseas Chinese to main- tain their local nationality alone and the institution of unilateral mea- sures to eliminate dual nationality. Until the mid-nineteenth century, the Imperial Government avoided the dual nationality problem by keeping its subjects "at home." When that solution was no longer feasi ble, the Qing emperors displayed an indifference to emigration and tol- erated dual nationality, perhaps believing in their hearts that “once a Chinese, always a Chinese" whatever the nationality held. Realizing that the Huachiaos were a potential source of national strength, the succeeding Nationalist Government encouraged retention of Chinese nationality and accepted dual nationality. Therefore, neither the Qing nor the Nationalist Governments made any real attempt to settle the problem of dual nationality with the Southeast Asian countries.**
Over its thirty-five year history, the PRC's own attitude towards the overseas Chinese has gone through several changes. During the emergence of the communist state, Huachiaos were encouraged to spread the ideology of communism in their lands of residence, much to the chagrin and fear of the Southeast Asian countries. In the aftermath of this initial fervor, the PRC Government attempted in the 1950's to reduce the fear of communist insurgence and to gain the trust of rising neutralist Afro-Asian states by initiating diplomatic efforts to resolve the dual nationality problems. The Chinese position went full circle again during the "Cultural Revolution," from the early suppression of the returned "bourgeois" Huachiaos and belittlement of those who were overseas, to the later worldwide incitement of their revolutionary zeal. With the advent of the PRC's current pragmatic leadership and its predominant policy of promoting friendly relations with the ASEAN countries, not only have diplomatic efforts resumed, but the Government is also for the first time in China's history-taking con- crete measures in its nationality legislation to reduce the incidence of dual nationality,”
A. Diplomatic Efforts Prior to 1980
From early in its reign, the PRC has sought to settle the dual na- tionality problem with Southeast Asian countries through friendly ne- gotiations. On April 19, 1955, Premier Chou En-Lai declared at the Afro-Asian Conference that dual nationality was an historical problem for overseas Chinese and one which the PRC Government was pre-
12.
93. For a brief account of China's emigration policies, see G. JAN, supra note 30, at
94. See Chang, Overseas Chinese in China's Policy, 82 CHINA Q. 281 (1980).
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