Cleavage: Guangzhou, Covid-19 and China–Africa Friendship Politics

Abstract

This short essay discusses how Covid-19 control over black Africans in Guangzhou in April 2020 (the Guangzhou incident) tells a story of deepened cleavages in China–Africa friendship politics. It argues that despite the political and diplomatic significance of the “friendship” ideology, the Guangzhou event manifests two kinds of its internal cleavages: one lies in how to deal with immigration issue of Africans in China as a derivative of friendbased hospitality, and the other lies in how to define and position the issue of racial identity, as a way of upholding the social infrastructure of this political ideology. On 1 April 2020, a 47-year-old Nigerian man was reported to have bitten a Chinese nurse when trying to escape from hospitalization in a Guangzhou hospital in South China, leaving bruises and marks on the nurse’s neck and face. As this incidence took place after he tested positive for the coronavirus, it ignited wide-range condemnation of his violence and impulsiveness. Despite this man soon apologizing and being heavily criticized within Nigerian community, the physical violence soon triggered a lot of hate speech in shoppingmalls, wholesale markets and other places where Africans congregate and on the internet. Furthermore, this hospital incident was further complicated by a few more confirmed cases within Guangzhou’s Nigerian community. Soon, to implement the “targeted accurate measures in fighting against the pandemic” (精准抗 疫), the Guangzhou local government started to work with community-based social workers to check the exact number of African nationals residing in Guangzhou. To prevent further transmission of the virus, all Africans in Guangzhou were ordered to undergo forced quarantine regardless of their travel history. Yet this sudden decision brought much discontent and critique. In the implementation of this quarantine policy, many Africans faced unexpected inhospitality and even inhuman treatment: many were then evicted out of their rented apartments and lodged hotels, prevented from entering restaurants and shopping malls, and their passports were seized. Through Africans’ personal media channels on YouTube and WeChat and international media, this Guangzhou incident quickly made international headlines and provoked intense discussions among local and national leaders: this “Guangzhou incident” unexpectedly became an international diplomatic focal point.