How we cite our quotes: (Section)
Quote #1
[…] the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be, and the same is hereby, suspended. (Sec.1)
This is a promotion of foreignness. If you keep a group of people out of a country, they will never engage in the cultural transference that turns two populations into one. This is when certain aspects become normalized, when white Americans start liking Chinese food, and the Chinese immigrants can get into burgers and fries.
Quote #2
[…] any master whose vessel, being bound to a port not within the United States, shall come within the jurisdiction of the United States by reason of being in distress or in stress of weather, or touching at any port of the United States on its voyage to any foreign port or place: Provided, That all Chinese laborers brought on such vessel shall depart with the vessel on leaving port. (Sec.3)
The law specifies what a ship with Chinese people should do when hit with a storm and in distress. They can stick around, but have to take all the Chinese people onboard away with them. That's a stunning level of xenophobia right there, and xenophobia is literally the fear of the Other.
Quote #3
That the master of any vessel arriving in the United States from any foreign port or place shall, at the same time he delivers a manifest of the cargo, and if there be no cargo, then at the time of making a report of the entry of the vessel pursuant to law, in addition to the other matter required to be reported, and before landing, or permitting to land, any Chinese passengers, deliver and report to the collector of customs of the district in which such vessels shall have arrived a separate list of all Chinese passengers. (Sec.8)
There's that word, "foreign." While the word itself is a useful one, it is significant in this act because that's in a large part of what the law is concerned with. The "foreign" port can in theory be anywhere, but the thinking is that it'll be in China.
Quote #4
That this act shall not apply to diplomatic and other officers of the Chinese Government traveling upon the business of that government, whose credentials shall be taken as equivalent to the certificate in this act mentioned, and shall exempt them and their body and household servants from the provisions of this act as to other Chinese persons. (Sec.13)
Any time you're explicitly dealing with another government, you're specifically engaging with foreignness. China had its own laws. In order to enact this specific law, the U.S. government had to negotiate an entirely new treaty.
Quote #5
That hereafter no State court or court of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship; and all laws in conflict with this act are hereby repealed. (Sec.14)
Forbidding Chinese immigrants from being citizens automatically keeps them as foreigners. They can never naturalize and be thought of as America. It's the literal enforcement of the Other.