China-Africa Peace Initiative (CAPI)

The manner in which some Africans were treated during the second wave of Coronavirus infections in China, particularly in the Guangdong province, left much to be desired as it drew widespread criticisms and led some members of the international community to view China as a racist country.
Majority of the black people affected are from Nigeria but a few are from Ghana, Mali and other African countries.

Several dismaying videos captured how a large number of tired-looking black people roamed miserably on the streets of Guangdong province after being ejected from their homes and hotels, because false rumors had been spread in China that blacks were the carriers of the COVID-19 disease.
These ejections were reported to have continued even after the Blacks had been quarantined for more than the 14 days required by international standards.
Other videos showed how, for several days, the Africans clutched onto their small-sized backpacks and wandered without shower or laundry, slept in the street corners, got drenched by the rains and endured the uneasy weather.
In the words of one of the African victims; “I’ve been sleeping under the bridge for four days with no food to eat … I cannot buy food anywhere, no shops or restaurants will serve me“.

Such videos quickly spread in the African social media space, sparking outrage and deepening hatred for China among Africans, majority of whom had great goodwill and solidarity for China at the onset of the virus, until various anti-China propaganda on social media started poisoning their minds.
What was taking several months to achieve through conspiracy theories, the Guangdong videos achieved in just under a week – that “Chinese are evil”! How did things change?

The intense anger that followed the emergence and spread of the videos, and the series of threats of reprisal attacks emanating from African locals have put at great risk the lives of the between 1-10 million Chinese citizens living in Africa, as well as their businesses, properties and even the enviable friendship forged between Africa and China over several decades.

To calm the rage in Africa and manage China’s image, the Chinese central government, led by President Xi Jinping, reassured the international community that China does not hate Africans or unfairly target them in coronavirus prevention rules. In a meeting with Ambassadors and representatives from African countries in Beijing, China’s Assistant Foreign Minister, Chen Xiaodong assured that “health authorities will immediately start removing restrictions imposed on African people who are not confirmed COVID-19 patients or in close contact with them (including suspected cases)”.

Joining in solidarity with the government to tackle this problem was China’s media giant, Weibo, which began cracking down on personal accounts that were used to spread fake news and hate against Africans. It is learnt that Weibo has reportedly gone ahead to ban about 180 of such accounts.

While such moves are commendable, the news about them didn’t circulate well enough in Africa, so they had very little effect in calming the frayed nerves of Africans who seem to be edging towards reprisal attacks.