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Honorary Whites is a term which was originally given by the apartheid regime of South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
 to the Japanese
Japanese people

The are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan....
 after they formed a trade pact with Japan to sell 5,000,000 tons of pig iron worth $250 million. Tokyo's Yawata Iron & Steel Co. offered to purchase 5,000,000 tons of South African pig iron over a ten-year period. With such a huge deal in the works, South Africa was not able to show disrespect that would be shown to the Japanese that now would regularly visit the country for business.






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Honorary Whites is a term which was originally given by the apartheid regime of South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
 to the Japanese
Japanese people

The are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan....
 after they formed a trade pact with Japan to sell 5,000,000 tons of pig iron worth $250 million. Tokyo's Yawata Iron & Steel Co. offered to purchase 5,000,000 tons of South African pig iron over a ten-year period. With such a huge deal in the works, South Africa was not able to show disrespect that would be shown to the Japanese that now would regularly visit the country for business. Soon, Pretoria's Group Areas Board announced that all Japanese from here on would be considered white, at least for purposes of residence, and Johannesburg's city fathers decided that "in view of the trade agreements" they would open the municipal swimming pools to Japanese guests.

Under the rules of apartheid, Asians in South Africa for years were subject to many of the same restrictions as the blacks. One law forbid their sex relations with whites; another forced them to live in nonwhite areas. They could not buy liquor without a permit, were not allowed in white hotels and restaurants. The government of Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd changed these rules for Japanese nationals after the trade pact. Likewise Honorary White status was granted to, South Korea
South Korea

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea , ), often referred to as Korea and the "names of Korea#Revival of the names", is a Semi-presidential system republic in East Asia, located in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula....
ns, Taiwan
Taiwan

Taiwan is an island in East Asia. "Taiwan" is also commonly used to refer to the country governed by the Republic of China and to the ROC itself, which governs the island of Taiwan, Orchid Island and Green Island, Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean off the Taiwan coast, the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait, and Kinmen and the Matsu Islands...
ese and other Nationalist Chinese
Republic of China

The Republic of China , also known as Nationalist China is a country in East Asia that has evolved from a single-party state with full global recognition into a multi-party democratic state with Political status of Taiwan....
, but not to Chinese from Communist China
People's Republic of China

The People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the List of countries by population in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately a fifth of the world's population....
, out of diplomatic considerations - namely, the (then) anti-communist alliance between South Africa and Nationalist China.

Since the 1960s until the fall of Apartheid, Honorary Whites were granted practically all the privileges held by White South Africans, except that they did not have the right to vote
Suffrage

Suffrage is the civil right to vote, or the exercise of that right. In that context, it is also called political franchise or simply the franchise....
, and (in case of males) were exempt from conscription
Conscription

Conscription is a general term for involuntary labor demanded by an established authority. It is most often used in the specific sense of government policies that require citizens to serve in the military....
.

The term was sometimes also used to refer to Asians in other "White" Western countries
Western world

The term Western world, the West or the Occident can have multiple meanings dependent on its context . Accordingly, the basic definition of what constitutes "the West" varies, expanding and contracting over time, in relation to various historical circumstances....
, especially Asian American
Asian American

Asian Americans are United States of Asian people. They include sub-ethnic groups such as Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans, Indian Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Korean Americans, Japanese Americans and others whose national origin is from the Asia....
s (primarily the Chinese
Han Chinese

Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and, by most modern definitions, the largest single ethnic group in the Earth.Han Chinese constitute about 92 percent of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98 percent of the population of the Republic of China , 75 percent of the population of Singapore, and about 19 percent...
) in the United States.

In addition, some foreign elite black athletes like the West Indian rebel team
South African rebel tours

The South African rebel tours were a series of cricket tours staged during the 1980s when South Africa was banned from international cricket due to the apartheid regime....
 who were invited to South Africa during the apartheid regime, were awarded "Honorary White" status to circumvent legislation.

See also

  • Asians in South Africa
    Asians in South Africa

    The majority of South Africa's Asian population is Indian in origin, many of them descended from indentured workers brought to work on the sugar plantations of the eastern coastal area then known as Natal in the 19th century....