Nationality law of the People's Republic of China territory "before or after" their transfer of sovereignty to China are regarded as "born in China". Those who are of ethnic Chinese origin are Chinese nationals before and after the handovers. Having said that, people born in Hong Kong or Macao in the years before handover, were usually given British nationality (mostly British Dependent Territories Citizenship) and full Portuguese citizenship, based on British and Portuguese laws. For Hong Kong residents, the "Interpretation" of the Nationality Law was adopted at the Nineteenth Session of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on May 15, 1996, a year prior to
Nationality law of the People's Republic of China addition to the Right of Abode (ROA) in Hong Kong or Macau. In 2014, a Hong Kong permanent resident who was born in Hong Kong to an ethnic Chinese father and a mother with Belgian citizenship before the handover lost his Belgian citizenship he acquired through "jus sanguinis", because of a clause in the Belgian nationality law which requires Belgians born outside Belgium with multiple citizenship to declare the intention to retain their Belgian citizenship. The Belgian Consulate-General used the clause from the "Explanations" to state that the person does hold Chinese nationality after the handover through his birth to