Africans Not Allowed.

What’s the Chop?

“Stay at home”; “wash your hands”; “go out only when necessary”. But what if you were in a country that was actively preventing you from doing these things? Africans in China are being subjected to racism and xenophobia — in the name of ‘coronavirus precautions’.

What’s going on?

Africans in China are being forced into a mandatory 14-day quarantine and subjected to random COVID-19 testing without cause. Some have also been evicted from their homes, and ended up in the streets. Some restaurants, like McDonalds, have even refused to sell food to them. They aren’t allowed to use public transport; and even hotels won’t let them get rooms. Chinese officials have also unlawfully confiscated African passports, threatening arrest and deportation in some instances.

That is terrible. Why is this happening?

Our best guess is that with the coronavirus outbreak, the Chinese are taking the ‘opportunity’ to rid their country of their ‘foreign friends’. There are concerns of a second wave of coronavirus in China from overseas travellers; and even though the Chinese government has said 90% of these are Chinese nationals (mostly students returning home), fears have stoked anti-foreigner sentiments, majorly centered on Africans.

Why Africans?

This is actually not that surprising. The Chinese have disturbing perceptions of Africans — I mean, did you ever see this ad? And, in 2018, the most watched TV show in China had a skit about how Africans benefit from Chinese investment and how grateful we are; the Chinese actors were wearing blackface and animal suits.

In Guangzhou City, which has the largest African community in China, officials were said to be actively rolling out measures to discourage Africans from living there; they were worried about a growing African population in Guangzhou. Kudos to them, because it seems to have worked — the African population in the city has been reducing over the years; still, it’s a hotbed of these racist attacks.

What are African governments doing?

African ambassadors in China sent a jointly-signed letter to the Chinese Foreign Minister demanding an end to the discriminatory activities, and one Nigerian diplomat has gone as far as to confront Chinese officials, and provide assistance to Nigerian nationals. Back home, the African Union, as well as Nigeria and Ghana, also held meetings with their respective Chinese ambassadors. Some public officials have called for a retaliation — i.e. kick the Chinese out of Africa — but obviously two wrongs don’t make a right.

Overall, it’s not clear what plans these governments actually have — if any. Meanwhile, Africans continue to sleep on the streets in Guangzhou.

Your Takeaway.

If you were expecting an apology from China, you’re going to have to wait a tad bit longer. First, they were all like: “no such thing is going on”, then, it became: “it’s not that bad; these are just misunderstandings”, until finally, they decided to play good Samaritan by visiting quarantined Africans with flowers and food, TV cameras in tow.

These attacks have — yet again — sparked conversation around China’s influence on Africa’s economy, and now, people are asking: could this lead to friction in the Africa-China relationship?

What can I do?

If you know something that we don’t, please share.

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