China and Refugee Law

From 1949 to the 1980s, China protected over 320,000 returned persecuted overseas Chinese from Malaya, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, India, and Mongolia, and over 280,000 Indochinese refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, who were expelled by residing countries because of anti-Chinese policies. Since the 1990s, some North Koreans illegally mi ated to Northeast China, mainly due to famine. Since 2009, tens of thousands displaced border residents of Myanmar have fled to China because of armed conflicts. The legal status of North Korean illegal immigrants and Myanmar displaced border residents is debatable. For complicated reasons, the protection of refugees and persons of concern is regulated by policy. The focus of the settlement policy used in the 1950s and 1960s was that settlement should focus on rural areas, with priority given to centralized settlement. The focus of the settlement policy of Indochinese refugees developed to centralized settlement in overseas Chinese farms. Eighty-four overseas Chinese farms were established mainly in Guangdong, which have been reformed since 1990s with the aim of integration into the local community, society, and market economy. China has had international cooperation regarding refugees with the international organizations and countries since 1979, when the UNHCR began working in China. In the absence of domestic refugee law in China, the UNHCR registers asylum seekers, carries out refugee status determination, and seeks durable solutions. The main direction for China to participate in global refugee governance is under the UN. Provisions of China’s domestic law on refugees are largely concentrated on the constitutions and the exit and entry administration laws. The Exit and Entry Administration Law 2012 is China’s first piece of legislation to include a provision specifically dealing with refugees. China acceded to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951), and to many human rights conventions, which laid a solid foundation for China to protect refugees and persons of concern. With the growth of national strength, China will make more contributions on global refugee governance and protect refugees and persons of concern by law. Additionally, academic works on Hong Kong, Macau, and refugee laws are not covered by this bibliography because both Hong Kong and Macau have independent refugee legal systems. Likewise, the article does not include academic works on overseas Chinese who went back to their homes in Southeast Asia from mainland China during the Cold War, and how they are persecuted, as they are mainly governed by refugee laws in the destination countries and regions, not Chinese refugee law. This research is funded by the Danish National Research Foundation Grant no. DNRF169 and conducted under the auspices of the Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre of Excellence for Global Mobility Law.