The Chinese government has said that authorities in Guangzhou resorted to strict measures against Nigerians and other Africans stranded in the region because they were found to be more vulnerable given the number of those tested positive to the Covid-19 virus.
The Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Zhou Pingjian stated this on Tuesday during a media briefing with Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama on the maltreatment of Nigerians and other Africans stranded in China.
Scores of Nigerian students and businessmen in Guangzhou were evicted from their apartments and hotel rooms by Chinese authorities.
Guangzhou is home to one of China’s largest African communities and has become a hub for African traders buying and selling goods to the continent.
Online videos show the victims lamenting their inhumane treatments by the authorities who they say have not provided them with alternative of food or shelter since their eviction.
While maintaining that the measures deployed to contain the importation of Covid-19 were not properly communicated, Pingjian said the prevalence of the Covid-19 disease among foreigners, especially Nigerians necessitated the action by the Guangzhou authorities.
The envoy said according to the current statistics of the outbreak of the Covid-19 in Guangzhou, Nigerians and other Africans were most vulnerable, hence the measures was meant to protect them.
He noted that the relationship between China and Nigeria is a strong one and therefore China would do anything to protect that relationship and “China has zero tolerance for discrimination” .
Meanwhile the United States on Saturday accused Chinese authorities of “xenophobia” toward Africans, after coronavirus cases among Nigerians unleashed a wave of evictions in the city of Guangzhou.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila also expressed displeasure over the inhuman treatment meted out on some Nigerians by the Chinese authorities in Beijing.
