Allegations of racism towards Africans in China

China’s government appears to be in damage control about its treatment of Africans in the southern city of Guangzhou due to targeted coronavirus measures that have been slammed as racist.

On Tuesday the city government revealed it had tested 4,553 Africans in the trading hub since April the 4th – and 111 of them were positive for coronavirus.

Just two days earlier, the mayor of Guangzhou Wen Guohui declared there were 4,553 Africans legally registered in the city, so Tuesday’s announcement confirms what many had been saying for days – that Africans were being singled out and forcibly tested.

The release of the information based on race was unusual in that many of the positive tests were people with no symptoms, and China’s government usually separates asymptomatic cases from its official tally of new cases.

A report from state media said 19 of the 111 positive patients had entered China from abroad when they were detected, suggesting 92 people were infected while in Guangzhou – a large rise compared to previous weeks where Chinese domestic transmission rates were, officially at least, zero or in single digits.

Officials and Guangzhou and China’s Foreign Ministry have denied discriminatory treatment of foreigners for pandemic control, but reports of Africans evicted from apartments, rejected from hotels and an apology from McDonald’s for a sign denying ‘black people’ entry to one of its stores has prompted rare diplomatic protests from multiple African countries.

State TV has now shown hazmat-wearing staff in Guangzhou delivering flowers to Africans being quarantined in hotels.

By China correspondent Bill Birtles