As someone who has studied, stayed, and now working in China for the past 10 years and has had close interactions with Chinese at different levels, I want to highlight the need for preserving the shared goals that have existed between Africa and China, and treating the coronavirus pandemic as a common threat to mankind.
过去十年里我一直在中国生活、学习，现在在中国工作，与各阶层中国人有着密切的交往。我想分享一些我个人的观点，希望中非之间的共同目标能不断得到维护，希望我们将冠状病毒的全球大流行视为人类共同的威胁。
However, to my regret, there have been numerous reports from diverse social and mainstream media outlets about discrimination against Africans living in Guangzhou, capital city of south China’s Guangdong Province. The social media reports claim that Nigerians and other African nationals were ejected from their hotels in the middle of the night while some students are being told to take COVID-19 and other medical tests, and go into mandatory quarantine. The social media reports added that Chinese landlords were ejecting some Africans from their apartments as part of the efforts to “curb the spread of coronavirus.” The outcries from African nationals in Guangzhou prompted African ambassadors in Beijing to release a joint complaint statement addressed to the Chinese authorities on April 10.
不过，令我遗憾的是，近来一些社交媒体和主流媒体的大量报道称，在中国广东省省会城市广州，存在对生活在当地的非洲人的歧视。有社交媒体称，尼日利亚和其他非洲国家的公民在半夜被赶出酒店，一些学生被要求接受新冠病毒和其他医学检查，并被要求进行强制隔离。社交媒体还说，中国房东将非洲人赶出公寓，称这是“阻止新冠病毒传播”的举措之一。由于有非洲人在广州进行抗议，因此非洲国家的驻华使节于4月10日集体向中国政府递交了正式的投诉声明。
While the reported actions display a resemblance of discrimination, we strongly believe that they neither mirror the general attitudes of the Chinese people toward African citizens nor are an official policy of the Chinese Government toward African people in the fight against a common enemy - the coronavirus. In reality, African and Chinese people have offered each other great support in combating the epidemic.
虽然以上报道中提及的行为类似于歧视，但我们依然坚信，这些既不反映中国人对非洲人的总体态度，也不是中国政府在抗击人类共同的敌人——新冠病毒——的过程中对待非洲人的官方政策。事实上，中非人民已经在抗击新冠病毒的斗争中互相提供了帮助。
While Africans can frown upon such incidents, it is also necessary to understand that Guangzhou is a commercial city and one of the leading manufacturing centers in the nation. Like any other commercial city worldwide, Guangzhou, is therefore more likely to draw legal and illegal immigrants than many other cities in China. As a result, Guangzhou has numerous illegal immigrants who may have been forced to come in contact with law enforcement authorities by the COVID-19 outbreak. Faced with fears of likely deportation, some migrants may simply have resorted to fighting back via the use of media outlets to create unnecessary alarm.
虽然很多非洲人对于报道中所说的针对非洲居民的行为感到不满，但我们必须理解，广州是一个商业城市，也是中国领先的制造业中心之一。和全球其他商业城市一样，广州比中国的任何一个城市都要吸引更多合法和非法移民。因此，在抗击新冠疫情的过程中，广州的一些非法移民可能被迫与执法部门接触。出于对可能被驱逐出境的恐惧，一些移民便希望通过媒体来制造不必要的恐慌，以此自保。
Furthermore, as we know, China is still recuperating from the epidemic, and has put in place diverse prevention and control measures to curb the spread as well as avoid new cases, which has had an effect on the life of the Chinese people as well.
此外，据了解，中国仍处于新冠病毒大流行的恢复期，政府已经采取了多种防控措施遏制病毒的传播，防止产生新的病例。这些措施同样也对中国人的生活产生了影响。
For instance, during the lockdown of Wuhan, the Chinese Government established a “health QR code” system for everyone – both Chinese nationals and foreigners who entered the city – as people started coming back to work after over two months of lockdown. The health QR code system is aimed at easily tracking and tracing likely contact with COVID-19 patients. The service provides users color-coded designations based on their health status and travel history, and it can be scanned by authorities. Generally, the health QR code permits anybody with the green code to move freely. The yellow code requires a 14-day self-isolation, while the red code indicates a confirmed or suspected case.
举个例子，在武汉封城期间，中国政府为每个进入这座城市的人，包括中国人和外国人，建立了“健康码”制度。当两个多月的封城结束后，人们需要复工时，“健康码”同样发挥作用。通过健康码，相关机构就可以方便的对可能的密切接触者进行追踪和溯源。根据健康状况和旅行史，用户拥有不同颜色的“健康码，”相关机构可以扫描这些二维码。一般来说，持有绿色“健康码”的人可以自由出入。如持有黄码，则要进行14天自我隔离，而持有红码则表明可能是确诊或者疑似病例。
For example, when the lockdown restrictions in Wuhan were lifted, persons with the green codes were permitted to move within and out of the province while others could not, to prevent possible exportation of the virus from Wuhan to other provinces or cities. Presently, this health surveillance system has been applied in most cities and provinces including Guangzhou. Also, to curb the risk of a resurgence of the virus, some hotels, restaurants, shops and other outlets in Wuhan have been asking customers to display their codes before entering, and only those with green health codes are permitted to take public transport at present.
比如，武汉解除封城之后，允许持绿码人员在湖北省内外通行，但其他人员不允许流动，以防范病毒向外省市传播的可能。目前，这一健康监测系统已经应用于大部分省市，包括广州。另外，为了严防疫情再次暴发，武汉的一些宾馆、饭店、商店等商业网点要求顾客进门前出示健康码，而且只有持绿码人员才能乘坐公共交通工具。
Overall, while these prevention and control measures have proven to be effective in controlling the spread of the virus in Hubei Province, it may not be the case with other provinces or cities. Recently, Xinhua News Agency reported that Guangzhou authorities had confirmed 111 new coronavirus cases by April 6, 19 of whom were Africans, with nine Nigerians among them. It was reported that five of the Nigerians had visited a restaurant in Kuangquan Street in Yuexiu District. This allegedly prompted Guangzhou health authorities to impose stringent control and preventive measures for anybody entering or leaving Guangzhou city.
总体来说，虽然这些防控措施在湖北起到了减少新冠肺炎发生的作用，但是值得注意的是这些措施在其他省份和城市未必同样有效。最近，新华社报道说截至4月6日，广州共确诊111例境外输入病例，其中19例是非洲人，在这些非洲人中9例来自尼日利亚。有5名尼日利亚籍确诊病例曾在短时间内多次到越秀区矿泉街的一个饭店用餐。据说境外输入病例的增多促使广州市卫生部门对出入广州的人采取严格的防控措施。
With nearly 2 million coronavirus cases and more than 100,000 deaths recorded globally, every responsible nation needs to take the most suitable prevention and control measures to ensure the safety of its citizens. The prevention and control measures taken by the Guangzhou authorities show that China attaches great significance to ensuring the safety and health of its citizens as well as foreigners residing in China, and safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the Chinese law. Many foreigners, Africans included, have even volunteered and joined the Chinese people in the fight against the coronavirus, leaving behind some touching stories of Chinese and foreign nationals working together during these hard times. Therefore, under these severe circumstances, the Chinese Government has given full consideration to all foreigners residing within its borders. As such, the actions taken by the Guangzhou authorities should not be interpreted as outright discrimination or racism as has been done by some people.
在全球确诊病例将近200万例，死亡病例超过10万例的时候，每一个负责任的国家都应采取最合适的防控措施保障本国公民的安全。广州市政府采取的防控措施表明中国高度重视本国公民和外国在华公民的安全和健康，依法保障他们的合法权益。大多数外国人，包括非洲人，甚至自愿参与中国抗击新冠病毒的行动，留下了中外人士在艰难时期共同抗疫的感人故事。在现在这种严峻的时刻，中国政府充分考虑到了在中国境内的外国人的安全。所以广州政府采取的措施不应被误解为有些人认为的歧视和种族主义。
Even though China is still recovering from the pandemic, the nation is still backing the continent of Africa in its current fight against the coronavirus. For instance, China recently sent a 15-member medical team, equipment and medical supplies worth about $1.5 million to Nigeria. China has also provided batches of medical supplies to the African Union and all African nations with diplomatic relations to China.
其实，虽然中国的新冠肺炎疫情并未结束，中国却在积极支持非洲抗击疫情。中国最近派遣了一支15个人的医疗队到尼日利亚，并且为该国送去了价值150万美元的医疗设备和医疗物资。中国还为非洲联盟和所有跟中国有外交关系的非洲国家送去了多批医疗物资。
Over the past six decades, Chinese and African people have stood together through thick and thin and COVID-19 should not be permitted to stand in the way of such an important long-standing friendship built and nurtured over several decades. African ambassadors in Beijing acknowledged this long-standing relationship in their statement and applauded the excellent friendship between African nations and China dating back to 1971 when Africa supported China in securing its rightful place as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, as well as China’s support dating back to Africa’s liberation struggle period. This long-standing friendship has laid an unbreakable foundation of China-Africa cooperation, and is the source of the robust vitality of a China-Africa community with a shared future.
在过去60年里，中国和非洲人民守望相助，患难与共。这种长期发展起来的重要而持久的友谊不能因为新冠肺炎疫情而受到损害。驻北京的非洲大使们在他们的投诉声明里承认中非之间的长期友好关系并且认同中非之间自1971年以来建立的深厚友谊。那一年，非洲支持中国成为联合国安理会常任理事国。而中国也曾支持非洲争取自由的斗争。中非双方长期以来建立的友好关系为中非合作奠定了不可动摇的基础，也为中非命运共同体提供了不竭的动力。
China has continued to pledge enormous sums of financing and aid to support Africa’s development over recent decades. Chinese lenders have provided some $143 billion in loans to African governments and their state-owned enterprises from 2000 to 2017, according to the China-Africa Research Initiative at John Hopkins University. China has also offered training programs for African journalists as part of what Chinese state media have called public-diplomacy efforts as well as people-to-people exchanges. Also, China has supported Africa’s physical and human capital development, and nowadays there are thousands of African students still living and studying in China on Chinese government scholarships, even in the face of the dreadful COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, there are numerous Chinese people working in African nations, especially on business investment and development projects.
几十年来，中国一直承诺支持非洲发展，提供了大量资金等援助。约翰霍普金斯大学中非研究计划数据表明，从2000年到2017年，非洲政府和国有企业已从中国获得了约1430亿美元的贷款。作为公共外交的一部分，中国还为非洲记者提供培训，促进人文交流。此外中国还一直支持非洲的物质发展和人力资本开发。如今，有成千上万的非洲学生在中国政府奖学金支持下在华生活和学习。面对可怕的新冠肺炎疫情，很多留学生仍然选择留在中国。另一方面，也有大量中国人在非洲国家工作，以商业投资和开发项目居多。
Therefore, these difficult times should reveal glaringly to us how powerful we can be if we live together with peace and love. China opposes all forms of discrimination and prejudice, but requires all foreign nationals including Africans in China to strictly abide by the law on the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, as well as other laws and local regulations on epidemic control and prevention. As such, Africans should abide by the laws and fully comply with measures deemed necessary by Guangzhou authorities to control and prevent a further escalation of the epidemic, as doing so safeguard their own and other’s health. Therefore, this difficult time should be a time when we try and uphold the China-Africa solidarity with shared goals, not as a divided global community but as a united global community, and collectively fight against this common enemy by focusing on what matters most - saving lives.
困难会告诉我们，和平、友爱与和谐可以赋予我们多么强大的力量。中国反对一切形式的歧视和偏见，同时也要求包括非洲人在内的所有外国人严格遵守《中华人民共和国传染病防治法》等法律法规以及地方性疫情防控规定。因此，身处广州的非洲人应遵纪守法，执行当地新冠肺炎疫情状态下采取的措施，防止疫情升级，保障自己和他人的健康和安全。中非的共同目标不是一个分裂的国际社会，而是一个团结的国际社会。我们应该并肩抗疫、共度时艰，集中精力做最重要的事--拯救生命。
The author is executive director of the Center for Nigerian Studies, Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University
作者迈克•伊西祖勒恩为浙江师范大学非洲研究院尼日利亚中心执行主任