African governments slam China over virus-related racism claims Yuan Yang in Beijing
African officials have complained to the Chinese government of alleged racial discrimination against their citizens in the southern city of Guangzhou, amid harsh measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak. The complaints follow many social-media reports alleging various forms of racial harassment in Guangzhou against foreigners referred to in Chinese as "black people", such as evictions, selectively applied quarantines and signs refusing entry to restaurants. On Saturday the US Consulate in Guangzhou warned African-Americans to stop travelling to the city as a result of such incidents. Moussa Faki Mahamat, chair of the African Union Commission, said he had expressed “our extreme concern” to the Chinese ambassador to the AU, Liu Yuxi, in a post on Twitter. “The African Grp in #Beijing is also engaging with the govt”, he wrote. Today I met with the Chinese🇨🇳 Ambassador to Nigeria on the disturbing allegation of ill treatment of Nigerian citizens in China. I showed him the video clip that had made the rounds. He promised to look into it and get back to my office on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/9SUxH0rI7X FEMI GBAJABIAMILA (@FEMIGBAJA) April 10, 2020 In a rare public airing of a diplomatic meeting, Nigeria’s lower house Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, released a video on Twitter on Friday showing a meeting with China’s ambassador to Nigeria, Zhou Pingjian. In the video, Mr Gbajabiamila raises allegations of mistreatment and demands a response from the Chinese government by Tuesday. “Mr Speaker reads the riot act to the Chinese ambassador: We will not tolerate mistreatment of Nigerians in China!!” wrote Nigerian lawmaker Akin Alabi in response to the video. Ghana’s minister for foreign affairs released a statement condemning the “ill-treatment and racial discrimination” and “inhumane treatment being meted out to Ghanaians and other African nationals”. The minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, said she had summoned Chinese ambassador Wang Shiting over the issue.
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