China vows improvements for Africans after virus discrimination claims

People walk in Guangzhou's "Little Africa" district in March 2018. [Image: AFP]

Under strong international pressure, China on Sunday vowed to improve the treatment of Africans in the southern city of Guangzhou following accusations of discrimination linked to the coronavirus pandemic and said it rejected all "racist and discriminatory" remarks.

Africans in the industrial centre of 15 million say they have become targets of suspicion and subjected to forced evictions, arbitrary quarantines, and mass coronavirus testing, particularly as Beijing steps up its fight against imported infections.