There’s China’s rhetoric, and then there’s the reality.
Desperate to avoid criticism over its deceptions, Xi Jinping’s regime claims that there’s only one way to address the coronavirus pandemic: with total solidarity. “We’re all in this together,” it says.
Except that, where it really matters, Beijing’s solidarity with the world is rather thin.
Yes, China has sent medical teams to various nations. And yes, it has sold medical equipment, often of inferior quality, endangering lives rather than protecting them. China is also hoarding such equipment at home, despite claiming to have overcome the coronavirus already. And Beijing continues to lie about where, when, and how the virus was allowed to spread.
But now we have an additional data point in China’s disingenuous solidarity narrative: the way it treats African guests on its soil.
Over the past few days, we’ve learned how African migrants in Guangzhou city are facing relentless prejudice and racism. This seems to be a result of rumors spreading like wildfire on China’s state-censored internet warning of a “black thunder” of coronavirus-infected Africans in the city.
The panic has led to black people being blocked from entering shops and other accommodations. Indeed, some have even been evicted from their homes. As one Ugandan, Tony Mathias, put it to Agence France-Presse, “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. We’re like beggars on the street.”
One McDonald’s restaurant in the city even temporarily put up a sign telling black people they weren’t welcome. Black people should instead seek guidance from the police, the sign advised. Its immorality aside, this was not very helpful advice. Mathias says that, when he sought guidance, the police simply told him “to go to another city.”
Beijing bears significant blame here. If Xi’s regime is not actively encouraging such racism in order to stoke nationalist fervor, it has at least failed to quell false rumors of a surge of coronavirus-infected migrants in Guangzhou. Considering that Beijing rapidly removes any online content even hinting at criticism of Xi Jinping, it’s strange that these racist lies could spread like wildfire.
Nor did Beijing quickly direct its communist minions in the city to provide accommodation and food to Africans in need. And when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs finally got around to briefing African ambassadors, it again arrogantly reminded them not to cast aspersions on China.
That’s not the only example of amazing hypocrisy on display here. Beijing continues to rail against President Trump’s ban on travel from China as evidence of American racism, even as China treats blacks so viciously. China isn’t simply banning foreign visitors from abroad. It is treating those already on its soil like animals.
We’re all in this together. Well, all of us who aren’t foreigners in China, at least.
