China is failing a simple test of tolerance an d respect
In the past few weeks, a viral video redolent of abuse and discrimination has been trending on the social media. Aptly titled ‘Racism for Sale’, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) documentary highlights prejudicial and unfair treatments of African children by some Chinese for their entertainment industry. Under the guise of teaching Chinese culture and language to the locals, the children were not only exploited, but also physically abused. The offensive video content, according to the BBC, is fed back home to reinforce Chinese stereotypical attitude of the black man.
In a commendable investigative reporting, Runako Celina and Henry Mhango tracked down a Chinese video producer named Lu Ke, to a Malawian village where he deliberately weaved contorted stories about vulnerable children, some as young as three years old. In one of the viral videos, the children were made to repeat the lines in Chinese: “I am a Black devil. I have a very low IQ. Yeah!” Some agents of these Chinese filmmakers reportedly recorded up to 200 videos per day, particularly during the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic. For all their efforts and self-abuse, the children were ‘rewarded’ with a paltry sum of half a dollar.
Expectedly, the documentary has triggered outrage across the continent. While the children abused may have been Malawians, it was obvious that the intention of the filmmakers was to demean people on the continent and the black race. The Malawian Minister of Foreign Affairs Nancy Tembo said she was “disgusted, disrespected and deeply pained.” In defence, the Chinese embassy in Malawi however tweeted that “the video was shot in 2020.”
Meanwhile, the concern is that there is a growing pattern to this sordid behaviour. While racism and discrimination cannot be described as Chinese official policies, they are increasingly becoming a problem that their authorities need to deal with. From Mainland China to Hong Kong, available reports indicate that Africans are being subjected to humiliating police searches on the street, avoided on public transport, and often prevented from bars and clubs. At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, several Africans, including Nigerians, were openly discriminated against as Chinese businesses placed signs outside their doors that they would not serve them.
What is even more worrying is that this attitude is increasingly becoming widespread across the continent. The vast Chinese investments in many of the African countries have become avenues to perpetuate some ‘superior’ attitude. In Nigeria where China is a major financier of large projects, their state-owned multinational and other smaller companies are into roads and railways construction, airports and telecommunications infrastructure, manufacturing, among others. Some of these companies operate with little or no respect for our country’s labour laws as cases of periodic abuses have been rife.
When citizens of a previously depressed country perceive the signs of national resurgence, prosperity, and influence, they often mismanage their relationship with others. This may be what is informing the repeated instances of racial arrogance among Chinese abroad, especially in Africa. But China’s growing global influence and economic expansion invariably dictate that they deal with other peoples with respect. Relating with Africans requires that extra caution because of the long history of racism based on skin colour.
It is indeed a blatant failure of foreign policy preparation that Beijing has not schooled its citizens on the no-go-area of racism in relating with Africans. In their interactions with people on the continent, China seems to be failing a simple test of tolerance and respect. For a country famed for its regimental discipline, such repeated public relations infractions can hardly be pardoned. China has to culturally grow up to fit into its massive wealth and global influence.
