The Concourse-CHINA

CHINA: Emerging colonialist with clinched fist?

Every evidence is showing that the world will never remain the same much after this Covid-19 plague.

Sports, Transport, education, religion, medicine and most importantly economy will not be the same again.

Corona virus has shaken the tap root of 3rd millennium AD world.

But that’s not much an issue as how it inadvertently reveals what the Peoples Republic of China was made of.

As we know already, thousands of conspiracy theories had gone off about why, who, where, when and how Corona virus came about.

Some of these theories ran against the dogma of science, others ran against the dogma of religion while some still, ran against the principles human anthropology.

The major aim of these theories was to explain how most countries are taking undue and unjust advantage of the unfortunate situation.

The ones that tend to theorize about world power play and the race to overthrow America as the Super Power nation, pointing accusing finger on China was dominating the cyberspace until the 5G anti-christ brouhaha took over.

Many played down that theory, believing that China could not just wake up and tell her scientists to react (or mutate) a bacteriophage with virulent pathogenic capability of decimating the world population within months, just to unmount America and enthrone herself as global super nation.

I doubted it too.

But with the pulse emanating from China, we are gradually being forced to see reasons with the proponents of the disputed theory. It looked like a biological weapon with nuclear warhead as its payload.

The world is at the centre of an undifferentiated cryptic attack from a virus that originated from China, and what China can do is start off racial abuse on Africans?

In the midst of the global scramble to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, relations have ruptured at a most unexpected front—between China and Africa. Since April 8, reports and social media discussions about the eviction and maltreatment of Africans in the Chinese city of Guangzhou have gone viral, leading to a series of formal and official diplomatic protests from the African Union and African countries toward China

Never before had the two sides had such a critical, high-profile, and widespread clash of positions, let alone allowed it to erupt in front of the public. Given China’s relentless efforts to consolidate ties and enhance engagement with Africa (including sending medical equipment and doctors to the continent during this crisis), this racism and discrimination against African migrants and residents is both shocking to the world and damaging for China’s policy agenda.

For instance, African (especially Nigerian) students are forced outside their halls of residence, left to the mercy of the elements.

Chinese health authority gave reason that 70% of new cases in the southern Chinese province of Guangzhou were traced to immigrants from Africa, and that informs their strange attitudes to African nationals.

What an unjustifiable reason!

Of all the countries to suffer racism from, is the uncastrated gentile nation like China?

Yet, our beggerly country is busy imploring and importing their doctors, accepting kits and fund grants to fight corona from them.

Why?

Because we, like Esau, had sold our right for a pot of porridge, through foreign debts to China.

He who goes borrowing goes sorrowing was an old-fashioned English adage. By the manner this administration has plunged us into the debit side of China’s ledger, it is very easy to explain why we can’t bite back in the wake of such inhuman treatments meted out to our compatriots in China.

Henrik Ibsen noted: “Home life ceases to be free and beautiful as soon as it is founded on borrowing and debt.”

I watched the Foreign affairs minister, Hon. Onyeama, make some smart diplomatic comments to navigate himself safely from the curious journalists asking him why Nigeria government is silent about the maltreatment her citizens are suffering in far away China.

”I have received reports and we told them that it is unacceptable and we are also engaging with other African countries to decide and work together definitive steps and measures that we will take because of this situation,” he said.

You can imagine him, speak tongue in cheek, about Nigeria liasing with other African countries to send a signal to the country that Nigeria would not tolerate any racial abuse of her citizens.

We can’t tackle a national assault on our own, unless we seek the sympathy of other countries?

While he was making that statement, and as you read this, hundreds of our brothers and sisters are sleeping in the gutters of Guangzhou.

We have seen it before. South Africa did their worst against us in their homeland, under the pretext of xenophobia. And the best our president could mutter was a state visit to our tyrant, to persuade them to pity us.😀🤣

In world politics, you are as strong as your economy is.

Our economy is weak, and so is our global status, and international perceptions.

Three days ago, China sent 48 million naira to us to help fight the pandemic. As a medicant nation, we accepted it with thanks. We didn’t check whether it is a condolence gift in advance for the funeral of our people they are planning to kill via racial abuses.

Trojan gifts!

They give to enslave us. Yet our government willingly subscribed to it.

But what else should one expect from a country that imports virtually everything it uses like ours.

Ajaokuta steel company, Kainji and Shiroro dams, four oil refineries, PHCN etc are all moribund, in a 60-year old country not because it lacks the ability to reposition them to foster speedy development, but because its leaders consciously pillaged its common wealth.

We have become shame of a nation; a slavish independent country.

Our external affairs minister who was well read and versed, with mastery in five languages of the world was almost stammering, because the government he was defending has its hand tied by billions of dollars in debt servicing to China.

The truth is, if we ever wish to regain our pride, we (our leaders) must stop borrowing, kill the greed that fan corruption, diversify our economy, sincerely develop our many local contents and advance both imported and local technologies.

Benjamin Franklin witted: “Rather go to bed supperless, than rise in debt.”In that way, we will manufacture our own goods, feed ourselves by ourselves and have less need to borrow beyond our repayment threshold. So that our citizens can hold their heads high anywhere they are, around the globe.

And as a country there will be no mental slavery approach to man-made calamities bedevilling our people in diaspora.

By: Eze Jude