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A former African Union (AU) Ambassador to the United States and president, Africa Diaspora Development Institute (ADDI), Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao, and others have kicked against the maltreatment of Africans in China.
ADDI is the umbrella organisation of over 210 million people living in the Diaspora.
In an open letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, Chihombori-Quao described the kicking out of Nigerians and other African nationals from their homes and hotel rooms and subjection to insults and extreme inhumane treatment as serious violation of rights, which black people would not tolerate.
According to her, Africans are being accused of bringing the novel coronavirus to the Asian nation, “while the whole world knows very well that COVID-19 began in Wuhan, China, and not Africa.”
She said the racist attacks became more glaring in 2016 as Africans were treated to an advertisement where a Chinese lady put a tab of detergent into the mouth of a black man, shoving him headfirst into a washing machine and thereafter emerging as a fair-skinned Chinese.
The ex-envoy also recalled how Africans in 2018 watched in silence as they were depicted as monkeys in the lavish four-hour lunar New Year show that was televised to millions across China, noting that Africans had received numerous reports of their compatriots being mistreated, slapped, kicked and spat on in the streets by Chinese nationals for absolutely no reason except that they were black.
Her words: “Currently there are over 10 million Chinese nationals living in Africa and are being treated with the dignity and respect that any human being deserves.
“It is against this backdrop that over 1.3 billion Africans on the continent and 240 million in the Diaspora unite in horror as we watch our black brothers and sisters, sons and daughters being dragged like wild animals in the streets by Chinese authorities.
“On the continent, Chinese nationals have been captured on video beating and mistreating their employees as well as actually insulting Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta.”
Chihombori-Quao continued: “ These troubling events are taking place in the background of your government’s plan to send over 300 million Chinese to Africa by 2030. Your Excellency, how exactly do you think that this is going to work?
“The United Nations is the international watchdog for all human rights abuses around the world and as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China should be the last country to violate human rights.
“Africans have endured centuries of inhuman treatment, abuse, racial and social-economic discrimination. The inhumane actions against Africans taking place in the People’s Republic of China are deplorable, unlawful and criminal. They contravene international human rights norms and conventions and have the potential of precipitating reprisals against Chinese nationals on the African continent.”
She maintained that such barbaric, and unprecedented attacks against the black race would erode the friendly diplomatic relations that China enjoys with all African countries.
The correspondence, written on behalf of the “enraged Africans around the globe”, was copied to all global and continental leaders, including UN Secretary General, António Guterres, Chairman of the African Union, Cyril Ramaphosa, his African Union Commission counterpart, Moussa Faki Mahamat, and the Chinese Ambassador to the U.S., Cui Tiankai.