Between Competing Empires: Overseas Chinese and the Making of Nationality

In December 1908 a group of Chinese from Dutch colonial Indonesia requested Qing authorities to create a Chinese nationality law based on the bloodline principle — a law that did not exist in China at the time. This request was made in response to the feared rumor that the Dutch empire was soon to create laws that would officially claim and label this group of Chinese as Dutch colonial subjects. Why would Dutch authorities, despite having colonized the Indonesian archipelago for centuries consider forced naturalization in this period? What was China’s response to the overseas Chinese community request for a nationality law? Would the making of a Chinese nationality law based on the bloodline principle help Dutch Indies Chinese escape from Dutch colonialism? Instead of seeing overseas Chinese desires for adopting a Chinese nationality as an act of Chinese nationalism or patriotism, this archive-based study suggests that a Chinese nationality law would help Dutch Indies Chinese escape from Dutch colonialism and would help empires to formally exert political control over its subjects. By looking at the motives and intentions of the overseas Chinese, Qing state, and Dutch authorities, this case study suggests understanding the making of nationality laws from the perspective of the competition between empires.