So much has been said, reported, watched, heard and read about the skirmishes in Guangzhou involving Chinese authorities and their enforcement of the rules and order for the control of the spread of the coronavirus in the city of Guangzhou. The city has the reputation of housing most Africans in China. In the melee, Afri-China […]
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So much has been said, reported, watched, heard and read about the skirmishes in Guangzhou involving Chinese authorities and their enforcement of the rules and order for the control of the spread of the coronavirus in the city of Guangzhou.
The city has the reputation of housing most Africans in China. In the melee, Afri-China Media Centre (ACMC) decided to reach out to the parties in the drama from the various divides and possibly tell the full story for the first time since only a balanced report would help to mend the cracks and move on again in peaceful coexistence.
How trouble started
Of the whole incident, one of the first Chinese to give us an account after hearing and reading from African sources was Mr. Luo Jun, the Deputy Director General of the Foreign Affairs office of the Guangdong Province which Guangzhou is its capital city.
Under this scheme, on April 9, Liwan District found eight Africans straying in a place outside a clothing and shoes market, and learnt that they didn’t have places to stay in. At around 7.30 pm, staff from Liwan convinced them to get on the district’s van to a designated hotel by the authorities called Maohua Hotel.
Seized passports?
They checked in one by one, handing their passports to hotel staff for check-in. When five finished checking-in at 10.30 pm, with three in rooms and two still at the lobby, a man stormed in and stopped others from checking in. He requested the five persons who checked in to gather at the hotel entrance quickly and that their passports be returned. He claimed to be the Acting Consul General of Nigeria in Guangzhou. An assistant escorted him.
Facing that, staff and officials on field had a discussion and retrieved the passports which were being used for check-in, explaining that it was a routine for check-in and passports would be returned after the procedure. He suddenly flew into more rage and seized passports from working staff. He rejected further communication and asked for the presence of foreign affairs office. Another African man appeared and joined the group when ACG was shouting at local staff.
As of 24:00 April 18, there were 16 confirmed cases of COVID-19 who were Nigerians and 61 asymptomatic cases of Nigerians in Guangdong Province. Total number is 77.
Views
He said Acting Consul General Lawal wasn’t right in stating that local staff had no right in handling the passports of Nigerians.
According to Security Administration Punishment Act in China, when an officer of a public security organ is dealing with public security cases, he may detain objects that could be used as evidence of the case.
This incident falls within the scope of social security management work of COVID-19 prevention and control.
Even in Nigeria, in Item 2, Article 3 of the Immigration Act, an immigration officer may examine accordingly, and may detain for such time as he thinks proper for the purposes of examination (not exceeding seven days), any document produced pursuant to or found on a search under this section.
So, the ACG’s argument won’t stand on the allegation of error on the part of the Chinese authorities seizure of passports, even though they didn’t.
Secondly, it was an irresponsible move to stop people from cooperating with control and prevention work of COVID-19.
A Nigerian’s account
In chat with a Nigerian on voice call, he had admitted in line with the information we had that some 300 Nigerians had applied to be evacuated. We heard the figure was a little less than 300, but he confirmed that since his name is also on the list, he saw a number far more than 300.
Responding to our question on reason that large number wanted to exit China and how harsh the situation from the government had been, he said most of the people on the list have issues with the legality of their stay in the country as their immigration documents were either irregular from the beginning or had expired for those that entered the country with valid documents and had not renewed their stay. He said the renewed onslaught occasioned by the coronavirus control measures has made it much more difficult to even retain their rented apartments or live in hotels.
On April 3, two other sources had earlier confirmed, including one of the leaders of the Nigerian community that a Nigerian who tested positive and undergoing treatment in hospital flew into rage and allegedly assaulted a Chinese medical officer even with a bite to her face and making attempt to force his way out of the hospital. This incident angered them and some citizens found that an avenue to racially balkanise and victimise other Africans in the city, even those that committed no offence.
The tension came from our apprehension that we being checked into the hotel was to quarantine us coupled with past experiences of some days earlier.
Because most of the officers are not English speaking persons, it was difficult for them to say why they took our passports.
So, the whole issue was misunderstood because of communication barrier between the Chinese officials and our people who were involved.
Eviction from homes, hotels
Regarding the eviction from homes, most of them arose from the immigration issues and when it started, it was a hotel where some Africans that had arrived China and were caught up in the lockdown had completed their quarantine and insisted on leaving on the last day before the authorities that put them there arrived. Because they stepped out contrary to the instruction of waiting for the officers to come and certify them fit, the same officers insisted there was violation and since they mixed with the outsiders, they weren’t sure of their fitness and must complete another 14 days. The altercation made them insist they won’t take another 14 days at which point the authorities instructed the hotel management not to allow them back in.
Nigeria Foreign Ministry speaks
To get a complete report, it was necessary to talk to the Nigerian Consulate in Guangzhou, especially the Acting Consul General, Mr. Razaq Lawal, who was in the middle of it for his countrymen. But Lawal could not bulge. To our inquiry to speak with him, he simply replied: “Good evening from China. Many thanks for the support always. Please and please you can invite the Hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs for the interview on the matter. I am just an obedient servant. Best regards.”
So we had to turn to Abuja to clear the issues. The spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, Mr. Ferdinand Nwonye, picked his call at the first ring and gave the position of the ministry.
About the incident in Guangzhou involving Nigerians/Africans and Chinse authorities, he coached that since the two countries – Nigeria and China don’t have any diplomatic frictions, the only way is to find out the facts and resolve whatever difference. “We are constantly in touch with the Chinese Embassy here and with our own embassy in Beijing. So we are doing our best to find solutions to the issues raised. After our past meetings with the Chinese embassy here, we have found that what we need are specific cases of discrimination against our people by the Chinese authorities or individuals. What we hear are generalisations and all we want is that Mr. K should file a formal complaint before Chinese authorities that on a particular day, he or she approached property owner, P who refused to rent him or her an apartment based on race or nationality. With that we would pursue a targeted case and get it trashed out. But when we hear they maltreat Africans, we can’t work on that until we have evidence. You know also that while there are the general complaints of being thrown out, many Nigerians still live in homes in that city. As some complain of being rejected in some restaurants, some Nigerians are still accepted there. So we need to pin these things to specific instances.
‘Again, I don’t know if you heard the case of two Nigerian COVID-19 patients who were hospitalised and one of them allegedly involved in assault of a health officer. For instance, it happened in Nigeria and a Chinese did that to a Nigerian lady nurse, would Nigerians feel happy about it? And if eventually the Chinese authorities decide to prosecute such an act, would they be wrong?”
The spokesman assured that after the discussions between the two sides which are still ongoing on how to make peace return, that it will be difficult to conclude there is improvement because “every country is at war over the coronavirus pandemic. It is when the war is over that normalcy returns. The pandemic itself is an abnormal situation and many countries find diverse ways to tackle it, including China and Nigeria, and I have to admit some of the measures would involve infringing on rights though temporarily until the challenge is taken care of. So we have to bear with certain things now and get out of the crises before we return to normal life. It is then we will know if there is a difference, and let’s not forget that before this pandemic outbreak, we didn’t get reports from our people in that city alleging maltreatments.
Every country and people are under pressure but so far, the two countries – Nigeria and China don’t have issues that would lead to such a big misunderstanding and we are handling it the best we can, bearing in mind the comfort and interest of our citizens. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and the government of Nigeria have always vowed their resolve and obligation to protect the interest of all Nigerians everywhere and that still remains.”
Culled from: www.africachinapresscentre.org
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