Honorary whites
Honorary whites is a term that was used by the apartheid regime of South Africa to grant almost all of the rights and privileges of whites to those who would otherwise have been treated as non-whites. This was made on a case by case basis to select individuals but also certain racial groups, notably East Asians who were ascribed as honorary whites. Such examples include the Japanese, Koreans and Taiwanese who were granted this "honorary white" status, and later other East Asian ethnic groups such as the Chinese and individually designated figures of various other races were  added as well. Chinese. The new designation granted to the Japanese seemed grossly unfair to South Africa's small Chinese community (roughly 7,000 at that time), who, it seemed, would enjoy none of the new benefits given to the Japanese. As "Time" quoted one of Cape Town's leading Chinese businessmen, "If anything, we are "whiter" in appearance than our fellow Japanese friends." Another indignantly demanded: "Does this mean that the Japanese, now that they are [considered] White, cannot associate with us without running afoul of the Immorality Act?" Furthermore, inclusion of other Asians as honorary whites complicated matters  on how the Chinese were treated, and apartheid regulation on Chinese varied from department to department and province to province as locals could not distinguish these Asians apart from each other, due to similar genetic traits. In 1984, the Group Areas Act was amended to allow Chinese South Africans to live in areas the government had declared white areas and use the facilities within them. Chinese South Africans were required to apply for a permit from the government in order to move into a white area. Permission had to be obtained from all the neighbours in the suburb for the  application to be accepted. Hong Kongers. At the time, Hong Kong was a part of British Overseas Territories. Despite South Africa's strained relationship with the United Kingdom at that time, Hong Kong still maintained trade relationships with South Africa. In order to lure investment in South Africa, Hong Kongers were offered the honorary whites status by the government for living and investment purposes. Japanese. The designation was ascribed to all Japanese people (who also once were ascribed as Honorary Aryans by Nazi Germany) in the 1960s. At the time, Japan was going through a post-war economic miracle, and  this designation assisted a trade pact formed between South Africa and Japan in the early 1960s, when Tokyo's Yawata Iron & Steel Co. offered to purchase 5 million tonnes of South African pig iron, worth more than $250 million, over a 10-year period. With such a huge deal in the works, then Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd determined that it would be tactless and disadvantageous to trade arrangements to subject the Japanese people to the same restrictions as other ethnicities because trade delegations from Japan would regularly visit South Africa for business and trade. Afterward, Pretoria's Group Areas  Board publicly announced that all Japanese people would be considered white. Johannesburg's city officials even decided that, "in view of the trade agreements", the municipal swimming pools would be open to all Japanese guests. The designation gave Japanese almost all of the same rights and privileges as whites (except for the right to vote; they were also exempt from conscription). Until the early 1970s, opposition party politicians and the press questioned why Japanese were granted special privileges, citing hypocrisy and inconsistencies with apartheid. South Koreans. Unlike Japan and Taiwan (ROC), South Korea was unwilling and eventually outright refused to  establish diplomatic relations with South Africa because of apartheid. Although South Africa offered honorary white status to South Korean citizens when the two countries negotiated diplomatic relations in 1961, South Korea severed ties with South Africa in 1978 in protest against apartheid, and full diplomatic relations between the two countries were not reestablished until 1992, when apartheid was abolished. Taiwanese. The inclusion of Taiwanese was due to the important relations between South Africa and Taiwan (ROC), who at the time were being increasingly isolated from the world, especially after Resolution 2578, when Chiang Kai-shek's regime lost its seat  at the United Nations. By 1979, Taiwan had become South Africa's fifth largest trading partner. As South Africa's National Party continued to support the right-wing Chinese Nationalists (KMT), even after the Communist Party of China gained control of the mainland, the relations of the two warmed, as both were isolated from the international community and treated as pariah states. Others. The "honorary white" status was given to other special visitors belonging to other races, including: