SIR: Recently, video footages of Nigerians and Africans being maltreated in China allegedly by the Chinese were streamed over the social media. An independent investigation into what transpired was carried out by Association of Tourism, Travel Agents and Hospitality Business Owners of Nigeria (ATTAHBON). Our findings reveal how uninformed some of our citizens are and how unrealistic our purposes of travelling abroad could be.
The findings of our association on this matter were results of discrete investigations carried out among Nigerians and other citizens of different African countries currently in Guangzhou legitimately and had undergone the COVID-19 test with certificate of fitness issued to them by Chinese authority. As the National President of the Association of Tourism, Travel Agents and Hospitality Business Owners of Nigeria (ATTAHBON), I have the privilege of being a frequent traveller to China and I have been travelling to this Asian nation since 2007 and I travel a minimum of two times in year. Throughout my several sojourn in China, I have never experienced any racial abuse. At no time in my frequent visits have I encountered any form of discrimination anywhere in any part of the country.
Chinese government has a functional system that deals with racism and I am aware their government does not tolerate any form of racial abuse of any nature against foreigners. From our findings, what transpired was that few Africans from different countries visited China between December 2019 and February 2020. This period coincided with the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in China.
As a measure to curtail the spread of the virus in China, the government made it mandatory for everybody returning from abroad including Chinese to undergo compulsory quarantine in China. The Chinese government was responsible for the hotel bills of these returnees regardless of country of origin. For Nigerians who were evicted from their hotels as alleged, it must be said that in China there are certain hotels that are not expected to accommodate foreigners and these are hotels that are below three stars. This category of hotels is where the Africans put their heads as soon as they landed in Guangzhou due to their cheaper rates and charges. These hotels are those evicting foreigners in order to be out of trouble before the government would swoop on them. Unfortunately, most of these Africans had 30 days visa validity and entered into China between December 2019 and January. By the end of February and early March, their visas had already expired and many hotels were unwilling to accommodate them with expired visas on their passport.
In the circumstance, the place to go to was the Nigerian mission house in Guangzhou which most of them refused to go. They chose to hang around for reasons best known to them. Another agency where they could have found refuge is office of the Nigerian Diaspora Commission which are currently active all over the world.
As a Nigerian business person, you can go to China under (M) visa category which is for commercial and trade purposes. Under this category, you cannot get Chinese visa without an invitation letter from an associate company in China. The company files for application on your behalf, fills a guarantee form for you while the local authority then issues a confirmation letter which you present at the embassy at the time of visa application.
If genuinely you’re for business, the inviting company would make arrangement for your airport pick up and probably book your hotel accommodation. What some Africans do is get the invitation from a Chinese company to enter China only to start running around for other purposes. Those sticking to their purpose are guaranteed smooth and memorable time in China.