Southeast Asia travel hassle

I am a British citizen and have lived in Hong Kong for about 1.5 years. I have been married to a mainland Chinese for five years. And what a hassle it is to travel! It was shocking to realise that while I'm in Asia, for one reason or another, I'm unable to take my Chinese wife to almost any Southeast Asian destination. I have called the consulates of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan, to obtain a visa for my wife as we want to have a short break.

But to my amazement, the respective foreign nationals at the other end of the line were abrupt and rude, especially the Malaysian visa section. These countries attach such restrictive regulations to PRC passport holders that I am unable to spend money in these countries.

The Malaysian Consulate even suggested I join a mainland Chinese tour group.

Considering the present economic conditions in Southeast Asia, their prejudice against mainland Chinese is just one of the ingredients, albeit small, preventing the kick-start of these economies.

They should be ashamed of preventing a married couple from enjoying a weekend in one of their holiday destinations. Do they really think a mainland woman, married to an Englishman, who has lived in Britain and has two children, will jump ship in Kota Kinabalu or Penang? Preposterous! I am disgusted by the medieval practices of these governments.

One day, in the near future, I hope President Jiang Zemin and the People's Republic of China will succeed in being the most successful nation in Asia and these unfriendly dictatorships of Southeast Asia will have to kowtow to mainland Chinese.