The President of ADDI pens an Open Letter to the President of the Republic of China about treatment of Africans in China

For centuries, Africa has warmly and wholeheartedly welcomed Chinese nationals onto her shores, allowing them to settle, marry and prosper without a hint of racial discrimination, bigotry, harassment or intimidation. The former Chairperson of the African Union (between 2008 – 2012) Mr. Jean Ping was the child of a Chinese diaspora from Wenzhou, Zhejiang who came to Gabon as a timber harvester^[1].  

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. Many have been kicked out of their homes and hotels and are subjected to insults and extreme inhumane treatments. 

These are serious violations of rights which WE, black people are not going to stand by and tolerate. Africans are being accused of bringing COVID-19, the killer disease to China and the world knows very well that the COVID-19 begun in Wuhan, Peoples Republic of China, NOT Africa. 

In 2016 Africans were shocked by China’s racist whitewashing advertisement depicting a Chinese lady putting a tab of detergent into the mouth of a black man, shoving him headfirst into a washing machine then hey presto! He emerged as a fair-skinned Chinese Man.³ In 2018, We the Africans watched in silence as we were depicted as monkeys in the lavish four-hour lunar new year show that was televised to millions across China⁴. We have also been receiving numerous reports of African nationals being mistreated, slapped, kicked and spat on in the streets of China by racist Chinese nationals for absolutely no reason except that they were black. 

On the continent, Chinese nationals have been captured on video beating and mistreating their employees as well as actually insulting Kenya’s President, H.E President Uhuru Kenyatta.⁵ These troubling events are taking place in the background of your government’s plan to send over 300 million Chinese to Africa^[2] 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.  

Such barbaric, unprecedented attacks against the black race will definitely erode the friendly diplomatic relations that the People’s Republic of China, enjoys with all the African countries. While recognizing that the majority of your citizens are good people, a few among them are bad apples, whose behavior should not tarnish the good relations that China has had with African countries. 

• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-36394917 
• https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/world/asia/china-africa-blackface-lunar-new-year.html 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHg3aj9gl3w

Your Excellency, we know you would not tolerate harassment, intimidation and inhumane treatment of Chinese diaspora living in Africa and that you would demand that your brothers and sisters be treated in a manner that is right, just and fair at all times.

Your Excellency, the abuse of Africans in China is tantamount to racism, discrimination and a serious violation of human rights. It is in the spirit of fairness and respect for human rights that we urge you in the strongest of terms, to put an immediate end to the harassment, intimidation and inhumane treatment meted against our African brothers and sisters, sons and daughters living in your country. The line has been crossed and enough is enough! We demand immediate reciprocity. Chinese citizens must treat Africans in China in the same way that they would want their citizens to be treated in Africa. 

Please accept this letter in the spirit with which it was written. Sincerely,

H.E Ambassador Arikana Chihombori – Quao, MD.

Former Africa Union Ambassador to the United States of America,  President, Africa Diaspora Development Institute (ADDI) 

CC.         All African Heads of States

               H.E Cyril Ramaphosa, Chairman of The African Union 

H.E Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairman of The African Union Commission 

H.E António Guterres, United Nations (UN) Secretary General 

H.E Ambassador Cui Tiankai, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China to the USA

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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Ping 

[2] https://electroverse.net/china-plans-to-put-300-million-chinese-people-in-africa/   

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