Minutes of Zhou Enlai’s Meeting with Burmese Ambassador U Hla Maung

On June 22, 1956, while meeting with the Burmese ambassador [U Hla Maung], Zhou Enlai said, “China’s energetic foundation is to support domestic born Chinese, and for expatriates who wish to live abroad to obtain citizenship in their foreign country. On the other hand we have to prevent these expatriates from being forced under the influence of the Bandit Jiang [Jieshi; Chiang Kai-shek]; this would not only be disadvantageous for China, but would also lead to trouble for their government. We do not support dual citizenship.”

Zhou said: “Two years ago I told U Nu that after the dual citizenship issue in India was resolved, we would do the same with other nations, but India even now has not yet ratified the China-India Dual Citizenship Treaty…Now Burma has broached the same topic. We believe we can set a precedent by confronting this issue and discussing the program’s faults. But as for the questions pertaining to dual Sino-Burmese citizenship, make no announcements at present.”

U Hla Maung: “Since China has taken a stance against dual citizenship, this issue should be quite easy to resolve. Burma will also see to it that as a result it does not let anybody fall under Jiang Jieshi’s influence.”