Does Singapore illegally grant dual nationality to foreign sportsmen and women? The case of Zhang Xueling.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Channelnewsasia report of March 10, 2007 reads "Singapore is saddened by the decision of national table tennis player Zhang Xueling to leave for China, but it respects her wishes to be close to her family". Zhang Xueling is an internationally acclaimed table tennis champion and had represented Singapore, after she was given Singapore citizenship in 2001, in the Commonwealth Games and SEA Games, winning 4 gold medals for Singapore.

This case raises a worrying question. Was the Singapore laws of citizenship broken in the case of Zhang Xueling?

We understand that Singapore does not recognize dual nationality. Upon becoming a Singapore citizen, one has to relinquish all other nationalities. One cannot therefore be a Singapore citizen and at the same time be a citizen of some other country.

Similarly the Peoples Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality. According to the Peoples Daily Online dated June 09, 2005, Chen Yujie, Director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, Peoples Republic of China during a visit to Britain specifically stated that China "does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national". In the article, she said the reason for this rule was because there were great numbers, 95%, of overseas Chinese living in South East Asia and these may suffer at the hands of these foreign governments who may question their loyalty. Thus in order to protect the interests of these foreign Chinese, especially those in SE Asia, China does not to recognize dual nationality.

Just a minute please! These 2 legal positions, that of Singapore and that of China would therefore mean, should it not, that Zhang, on adopting Singapore citizenship in 2001, had to give up her Chinese nationality according to Singapore law. Therefore if she was no longer a Chinese national, on what status did she return to China recently? Did she return to China, "to be close to her family" as a visitor holding a Singapore passport?

Mr. Teo Ser Luck, Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development and Youth said in Parliament on March 09, 2007 that she was leaving because "she wanted to be close to her family". Are we to assume therefore that she will be close to her family for a short period of a few weeks as expected of a visitor (since she is no longer a Chinese national) and then return to Singapore?

Or has something more sinister gone on here? Is Singapore secretly breaking the law and giving dual nationality to some, but denying it to ordinary folks, like you and me? Has Singapore illegally permitted this international table tennis champion Zhang Xueling to retain her Chinese nationality while she was a Singapore citizen, and therefore has this woman returned to China on her Chinese passport? And if Singapore has done this, is it not a violation of Singapore law disallowing dual nationality? And if this illegal granting of dual nationality has occurred in this case, have there been other instances where the law has been conveniently bent to give dual nationality to other sportsmen to represent Singapore as Singapore citizens.

And if this illegal bestowing of Singapore citizenship, with the recipient retaining foreign nationality has been going on, how rampant is this illegality of flouting the citizenship laws? And is this abuse of the law of nationality only in the case of champion sportsmen and women but also in other cases and professions?

If indeed the law of citizenship has illegally been bent for foreign sportsmen, this is another instance of the lawlessness of Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore government. He controls the government, he controls the courts, the police and the press. In the facts given above, it appears almost certain that Lee's government illegally permitted this champion sportswoman Zhang Xueling to retain her Chinese nationality when she was granted Singapore citizenship in 2001.

Another example of Lee Kuan Yew doing anything he wants as long as it suits him, regardless of any law. Now thank God for the Internet, this dirty business of Singapore illegal selective grant of dual nationality surfaced into the open.

Please continue to look out for these pages as I reveal further illegalities in that Island belonging to Lee Kuan Yew and his family.

Gopalan Nair
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EMail: gopalnair@us-immigrationlaw.com