Despite statements by the Government’s Chief of Staff Lionel “Max” Hurst, it remains unclear whether Chinese nationals who are also citizens of Antigua & Barbuda through citizenship by investment (CBI) are losing their Chinese nationality as mandated by that country’s law.
Article 9 of the Nationality Law of the People’s Republic of China 1980 states, “Any Chinese national who has settled abroad and who has been naturalised as a foreign national or has acquired foreign nationality of his own free will shall automatically lose Chinese nationality.”
However, the Chief of Staff said he was doubtful that this was still the case. He said: “I believe…one has to actually be stripped of the citizenship of China in order to lose it.”
He added that to his knowledge “many of the people from China who acquire second citizenship…continue to enjoy the protection of Chinese citizenship wherever they may be”.