Foreign Ministry condemns China's 'racial targetting' of Africans in Coronavirus crackdown

Africans in southern China's largest city, Guangzhou, say they have become targets of suspicion and have subsequently been subjected to forced evictions. According to them, they have been rendered homeless having been evicted from their homes by landlords and turned away from hotels. That is not all.

CNN reports that a publication on the People’s Government of Guangdong Province’s website on April 4 alleged that a Nigerian national with Covid-19 had attacked a Chinese nurse who tried to stop him leaving an isolation ward at a Guangzhou hospital. The report was shared widely on social media, and local Africans CNN spoke to say a racist backlash against the African community followed.

As at April 7, Guangzhou had reported 111 imported cases, including 25 foreign nationals. Among them, 9 were from Nigeria, 3 from Angola, 2 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and 2 from Niger. Fearing a cluster among the African community, Guangzhou authorities upgraded the risk level of Yuexiu and Baiyun, the areas home to the city's two African enclaves, from low to medium, state-owned Global Times reported.

Reacting to the issue in a statement dated April 11, 2020, Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, described the development as regrettable.

“I have been briefed on the inhumane treatment being meted out to Ghanaians and other African nationals in the People’s Republic of China with regards to the COVID-19 outbreak.

I regret and highly condemn this act of ill-treatment and racial discrimination”, parts of the statement read.

She indicated that Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Shi Ting Wang has been summoned in view of that, to call for immediate action by his Government and officials.

An official communication from the presidency is expected subsequently.

Read the full statement below: