COVID-19: China races to repair ‘ruptured’ African-Chinese relations

China is mobilising rapidly to dissipate the outcry of grieved African officials and people after the fallout of containment measures to prevent coronavirus resurgence saw hundreds of Africans in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou being tossed out onto the street – some by their landlords, some by hotel managers, and others by local officials. […]

China is mobilising rapidly to dissipate the outcry of grieved African officials and people after the fallout of containment measures to prevent coronavirus resurgence saw hundreds of Africans in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou being tossed out onto the street – some by their landlords, some by hotel managers, and others by local officials.

China has recorded huge success in containing the virus. However, the Asian country is still faced with the pressure of guarding against imported cases and domestic resurgence.

To safeguard the hard-won progress of prevention and control, Guangzhou, the home to Asia’s largest African migrant population, quickly became the front line of China’s renewed battle with COVID-19.

Local authorities have identified Africa as the source of the largest number of imported COVID-19 cases-among all foreign cases identified in Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong Province.

As of 24:00 on April 22, the province had reported 64 confirmed cases of foreigners, including 35 Africans. There were 167 cases of asymptomatic infections, including 142 Africans, a figure from the Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Guangdong Province showed.

As a result, the local government upgraded containment measures by requiring mandatory testing and a 14-day quarantine for all African nationals in the city, regardless of whether they tested positive for COVID-19.

These measures paid no regard to whether people had recently travelled out of China, or had contact with infected persons or showed symptoms of COVID-19.

The fallout was an eruption of local resentment, evictions, refusals of service, and maltreatment of Africans by the locals, who feared that all Africans in the city were infected and contagious.

African ex-pats were left at the mercy of xenophobic attitudes and heavy-handed enforcement.

Local shops refused to provide service to Africans, and evicted African nationals had to sleep on the streets.

A viral post shows McDonald’s staff in a restaurant in Guangzhou holding a sign that says: “We’ve been informed that from now on black people are not allowed to enter the restaurant.”

Rumour quickly circulated that “300,000 black people in Guangzhou were setting off a second epidemic,” though public officials later debunked that myth.

The provincial government denied that the measures were aimed at persecuting African nationals.

“Guangzhou’s prevention measures never aim at any discrimination against African people or turning them away,” said the Deputy Director-General of Guangdong Foreign Affairs office, Mr. Lou Jun, during a video conference, which one of our correspondents took part in alongside other African journalists and Chinese officials.

“They only aim at early detection of the disease so that the source of infection could be controlled on the earliest date. Those improper behaviours of some individuals are by no means universal. Instead, they are just individual cases,” he added.

How African officials responded 

Video evidence of this racist mistreatment sparked international outrage. A dozen African countries summoned their Chinese ambassadors to explain the “inhumane treatment being meted out.”

A coalition of African ambassadors in Beijing delivered a letter to China’s foreign ministry condemning “discrimination and stigmatization” without any reported case of African nationals violating the country’s anti-epidemic laws and regulations.

“Therefore, the singling out of Africans for compulsory testing and quarantine, in our view, has no scientific or logical basis and amounts to racism towards Africans in China,” it said while demanding an immediate end to all discrimination.

Here in Nigeria, Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, summoned the Chinese Ambassador, Mr Zhou Pingjian, twice to express the Nigerian government’s “extreme concern” at “allegations of maltreatment of Nigerians in Guangzhou” while calling for immediate Chinese government intervention.

He warned that the racist treatment of Nigerian nationals would not be tolerated after more findings from Nigerian government officials in Guangzhou showed that the situation was still not under control as they were made to believe.

Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, in a meeting with the Chinese envoy at the National Assembly, Abuja, said the inhuman treatment of Nigerians in Guangzhou was unacceptable, adding that it must be addressed forthwith.

Onyeama continued the scolding last Thursday, calling the racial mistreatment of Nigerians in Guangzhou a “red line” and that the Nigerian government would fight it to the very end.

He said Nigeria was engaging with other African countries on “definitive steps and measures” to take against China.

Impact on China-Africa ties

Experts said given China’s relentless efforts to consolidate its relations with Africa, the discrimination against the continent’s nationals is damaging for China’s foreign policy agenda.

China has repeatedly stressed that its “win-win” relations with Africa is based on “mutual respect” aiming at building “a community of shared future for mankind”.

Over the past two decades, China and Africa have become entwined. China has built roads and railways across Africa and is the biggest trading partner for the entire continent, with a two-way trade reaching over $200 billion in 2018.

China is also Africa’s top creditor, having lent an estimated $152 billion to nearly 50 African states between 2000 and 2018.

Analysts said these partnerships face disruption if the Chinese government downplays the racial mistreatment of African migrant workers and students in China.

China, they said, must not only address racial discrimination but must also show that the respect it promises to smaller nations can be extended to their citizens.Race to repair ruptured ties

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian had told a press conference that China’s most urgent task was to prevent “overseas imports” of the virus but acknowledged that “there might be some misunderstandings in the implementation of measures.”

China has now begun to repair the damage.

On April 13, the ministry announced it would adjust its coronavirus restrictions on African nationals, provide them with health services without discrimination and adjust accommodation prices for those in financial difficulties.

Chinese Weibo had closed dozens of accounts for “inciting discrimination” and is discouraging its users from sharing news involving foreigners and foreign countries.

McDonald’s also apologised for the refusal to serve black people in the Guangzhou store, directing an end to any discrimination.

Chinese volunteers banded together to raise money, connecting African migrants with hotels that accept foreign guests, and even offering counselling services.

Local authorities in Guangdong have also started implementing measures to address discriminatory practices against African nationals.

During the video conference, Mr Lou Jun said some of the online videos were not the true reflection of the situation in Guangzhou, but acknowledged that there were discriminatory practices against African nationals.

“I won’t hide the problem of denying Africans access to vital services,” Lou said but added that this was not the government’s policy.

He said there were problems with the locals, many of whom were not aware of the government’s measures to contain the disease but decided to take such a discriminatory decision.

He, however, lamented that response to the health authorities’ prevention and control measures was “not encouraging”.

He said the local government set up a special task force that holds meetings with African consulates and nationals.

At such meetings, he said, reasonable concerns of Chinese and foreign nationals are considered, and steps taken by the appropriate department to address them.

On April 18, 2020, the Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Guangdong Province, issued an “Open Letter” to the public wherein it educated the locals on how best to treat foreigners.

It states that “Any organization or individual shall not restrict or refuse to provide hotel accommodation and renting houses to any specific group of people because of their nationality, race, gender, or skin colour, nor should they be denied free access to such public venues as local communities, shops, and parks.

“Any organization or individual shall not restrict or turn away any specific group of people from taking metro, buses, taxis or other public transportation because of their nationality, race, gender or skin colour, and shall not refuse to provide daily services including hair cutting, shopping, and catering for them.

“Any organization or individual shall not apply differentiated treatment or discriminatory practices to any specific group of people because of their nationality, race, gender, or skin colour when they are seeking medical care in medical institutions.”

Mr Lou said the provincial government also monitors its officials and would punish those found to be discriminatory in their conduct.

He listed other measures to halt racial mistreatment of Africans to include asking Chinese business owners to educate their staff on good relations with foreigners, educating school children on “building a community of shared future” with Africa as well as encouraging house owners to keep their African tenants and lower rent.

Ambassador Kuang Weilin, former Head of the Chinese Mission to the African Union, re-echoed the foreign ministry’s statement that the country has zero tolerance for discrimination.  The Chinese law, he said, prohibits discrimination of any kind.

“Chinese policy has always been treating people equally. Discrimination has no market in China because we have also been victims of discrimination,” he said.