We Treat Foreign Nationals Equally, No Discrimination, Says Chinese Foreign Ministry

The Chinese government has said it treats all foreign nationals equally and has zero tolerance for discrimination.

This comes after Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila had a meeting with Zhou Pingjian, Chinese ambassador to Nigeria, over the reports on the maltreatment of Nigerians in the Asian country.

Gbajabiamila drew the attention of the ambassador to allegations that Nigerians are forced to go into a 14-day quarantine after spending the same period earlier and testing negative for coronavirus.

He said: “As a government, we will not allow Chinese or other nationals to be maltreated just as we will not allow Nigerians to be maltreated in other countries.

“The way you treat your citizens, we expect that’s how you’ll treat others. We will not tolerate our citizens breaking your laws, but the crime of one citizen cannot be used to stigmatize the whole country.

In response, Pingjian said the Chinese authorities take the relationship with Nigeria seriously. “Until we receive a full report from back home, I cannot act, but I can assure you it is not a policy issue,” he added.

In a tweet following that, the Chinese embassy quoted its foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian as saying that China and African countries are united “more than ever.”

Chinese embassy tweeted: ‘China and African countries are united more than ever, demonstrating brotherhood in times of adversity. We treat all foreign nationals equally in China. We reject differential treatment, and we have zero tolerance for discrimination.”