Lin Huaming points out that when Zhou Enlai visited Southeast Asia in the 1950s, he publicly said the Chinese communists were not encouraging dual citizenship, hoping ethnic Chinese abroad would become citizens of their host countries. Zhou described them as "daughters who have already been married off," thus framing the mainland's new policy toward them.
林華明則指出，周恩來在一九五○年代訪問東南亞時，當眾表示中共不贊成雙重國籍，希望僑民都能落籍當地；而他的一句「僑胞就像嫁出去的女兒」，更被中共奉為海外僑務政策的圭臬。