By Choice and Coercion: The Problem of Dual Citizenship in Modern China

Abstract

Charlotte Brooks, professor of history focusing on the 20th century US, Modern China, and the Chinese diaspora at the Weissman School of Arts & Sciences, Baruch College, New York City - The Nationality Law of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) rejects dual citizenship, and in recent years, officials have carried out high profile crackdowns on China-born people who obtain foreign citizenship but use Chinese passports to enter, live, and do business in that country. Yet PRC officials have also at times forced foreign-born ethnic Chinese with foreign citizenship to use Chinese citizen travel documents to enter, live in, and leave the PRC. They have also begun to explore using special visas and statuses to entice more “overseas Chinese” to work and invest in China. This paper looks at the thorny issue of “overseas Chinese” citizenship as both a contemporary question and one with a long history in both the People’s Republic and its predecessor regimes. For decades, various Chinese governments have attempted to manipulate the citizenship of the foreign-born “overseas Chinese” for political and economic ends, while many ethnic Chinese with foreign citizenship have in turn sought to use that status to their advantage while in China.