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By default, China considers all ethnic Chinese to be Chinese nationals. >In regards to the de facto practices of the Chinese government, Kris Cheng wrote in Fo

by 99_00 4y ago

By default, China considers all ethnic Chinese to be Chinese nationals. >In regards to the de facto practices of the Chinese government, Kris Cheng wrote in Foreign Affairs that "Beijing presents nationality as an elaborate legal question, but in practice the answer is simple. Only one rule applies: If you have ever held or could have held Chinese citizenship, you are a Chinese national unless Beijing decides you are not. And even if you were born abroad but you're of Chinese descent, Beijing still feels as if it owns you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_nationality_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_nationality_law China also requires all Chinese nationals to spy when asked. >As long as national intelligence institutions are operating within their proper authorities, they may, according to Article 14, “request relevant organs, organisations, and citizens provide necessary support, assistance, and cooperation”. https://www.canada.ca/en/security-intelligence-service/corporate/publications/china-and-the-age-of-strategic-rivalry/chinas-intelligence-law-and-the-countrys-future-intelligence-competitions.html https://www.canada.ca/en/security-intelligence-service/corpo...

resoluteteeth 4y ago
I think one problem is that there aren't really treaties with rules on multiple citizenship or really the criteria for citizenship in general that would prevent a country from refusing to allow you to renounce your citizenship, so if a country has some basis and incentive to consider you a citizen under its rules, there isn't really anything stopping it from doing so.
seanmcdirmid 4y ago
> By default, China considers all ethnic Chinese to be Chinese nationals. That is not true at all since: > If you have ever held or could have held Chinese citizenship, you are a Chinese national unless Beijing decides you are not. So a an ethnic Han or Kejia who was born and grew up in Malaysia is ethnically considered Chinese, but the PRC has no claim that they might be a Chinese citizen. > And even if you were born abroad but you're of Chinese descent, Beijing still feels as if it owns you. The only case where that can happen is if one of your parents has Chinese citizenship when you are born abroad, and even then it supposedly doesn't count if they have permanent residency in another country (e.g. my kid is supposedly not a PRC citizen because I'm American and mom has a US greencard). But this isn't clear and all you can do is try to get a Chinese visa; if decided to be a citizen of China and another country, kids have to renounce one or the other when they are 18 (but they can't do that before, there make easy exceptions for people like Eileen Gu for dual citizenship because China doesn't really have rule of law, so they can make it up as they go along).

by 99_00 4y ago

resoluteteeth 4y ago

I think one problem is that there aren't really treaties with rules on multiple citizenship or really the criteria for citizenship in general that would prevent a country from refusing to allow you to renounce your citizenship, so if a country has some basis and incentive to consider you a citizen under its rules, there isn't really anything stopping it from doing so.

seanmcdirmid 4y ago

> By default, China considers all ethnic Chinese to be Chinese nationals. That is not true at all since: > If you have ever held or could have held Chinese citizenship, you are a Chinese national unless Beijing decides you are not. So a an ethnic Han or Kejia who was born and grew up in Malaysia is ethnically considered Chinese, but the PRC has no claim that they might be a Chinese citizen. > And even if you were born abroad but you're of Chinese descent, Beijing still feels as if it owns you. The only case where that can happen is if one of your parents has Chinese citizenship when you are born abroad, and even then it supposedly doesn't count if they have permanent residency in another country (e.g. my kid is supposedly not a PRC citizen because I'm American and mom has a US greencard). But this isn't clear and all you can do is try to get a Chinese visa; if decided to be a citizen of China and another country, kids have to renounce one or the other when they are 18 (but they can't do that before, there make easy exceptions for people like Eileen Gu for dual citizenship because China doesn't really have rule of law, so they can make it up as they go along).