After reports of alleged COVID-19 related discrimination against African nationals in China, Beijing now faces a diplomatic crisis in Africa as the discrimination sparked widespread anger around the continent.
Amid heightened fears of imported infections, regardless of their recent travel history, African expatriates and students in Guangzhou, a southern Chinese city were forced to have their COVID-19 tests and conduct their 14-day self-quarantine.
Aside from the testing requirement, a huge number of African nationals were also left homeless, after they have been evicted by their landlords and rejected by hotels around the city where they could possibly stay.
After China's initial containment of the virus, a possible second wave threatens and concerns have grown in recent weeks as overseas travelers brought back COVID-19 into the country.
As videos of Africans sleeping on the streets or locked into their and harassed by police circulates online, the African Government alongside media outlets and its citizens reacted angrily to the rise of the anti-foreigner sentiment.
Saturday's front page of Kenya's biggest newspaper, a headline "Kenyans in China: Rescue us from hell," lead to a member of the parliament to call Chinese nationals to leave Kenya immediately as TV stations in neighboring countries such as South Africa, Uganda, and Nigeria also published the stories of the alleged mistreatment.
According to official figures from China's General Administration of Customs, in recent years, African nations have become key diplomatic and partners in trading with Beijing, wherein China's trade with Africa reached $208 billion in 2019 but despite the previous trades, the fallout threatens to undermine China's diplomatic efforts in Africa.
Zhao Lijian, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman in a released statement denied that China had been singling out foreigners.
Zhao also added that they are still facing great risks of imported cases aside from the domestic resurgence, particularly as the pandemic spread across the world, imported cases mount added pressure and despite the threats, Zhao emphasized that all foreigners are treated equally and they reject differential treatment for they have zero tolerance for discrimination.
Relations Breaking Down
Often characterized as the weaker partner in bilateral relations, African countries are repeatedly warned by US officials not to fall in the so-called Chinese debt-trap diplomacy, wherein countries are forced to hand over key assets to service loans they can't repay, however in the recent days, African governments have been fast in demanding answers from Beijing on the alleged mistreatment of their citizens.
Summoning their respective Chinese ambassadors, governments of Ghana and Uganda called the incident as inhumane as the treatment was being meted out, while South Africa's Foreign Ministry which is currently the chair of the African Union shared that it was deeply concerned by the received reports.
African Union Commission chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat tweeted that he invited the Chinese ambassador to Nigeria, Zhou Pingjian to the African Union to personally discuss the said allegations of mistreatment and to show that they are serious about the continent-wide discontentment but before the invitation, Nigerian lawmaker Oloye Akin Alabi posted a video on twitter of Zhou being grilled by a Nigerian politician over the issue.
