Honorary whites was a political term that was used by the apartheid regime of South Africa to grant some of the rights and privileges of whites to those who would otherwise have been treated as non-whites under the Population Registration Act. It was enacted by the then-ruling National Party (NP).
This designation was made on a case-by-case basis as its underlying intent was utilized to select individuals within the context of various circumstances such as competitive sporting events and diplomatic exchanges. The term was also applied towards certain racial groups, most notably, East Asians who were ascribed as honorary whites. Such examples included the Japanese, Koreans (although this status was rejected by the South Korean state), Hong Kongers and Taiwanese who were granted "honorary white" status, and later the local Chinese community of South Africa and individually designated figures of various other races were added as well.
