Guangzhou, a metropolis in southern China, was caught in the global limelight after reports of Africans "being discriminated against and forced into quarantine" surfaced. The capital of south China's Guangdong Province is now trying to find a balance between preventing the recurrence of a second COVID-19 outbreak and staving off claims that it is acting against what is believed to be the core principle of international norms. 

Last week, Guangzhou reported a spike in imported cases of the coronavirus and what followed this announcement was a flurry of photos, screenshot images and local news reports going viral on social media, all indicating the immense risks of Guangzhou becoming a hotbed for the disease. The bleak prospect that the metropolitan capital could become China's next epicenter has raised concerns among residents about how local authorities will cope with a resurgence of COVID-19.

With the tremendous pressure on the local government, what complicated the situation was that these concerns came at the height of sweeping media coverage on Guangzhou's alleged mistreatment towards the black community living in the city.

Such claims included black people being evicted by landlords or private institutions, falling subject to targeted forced quarantines, and denied entry to restaurants, groceries, and hotels. As these allegations sparked a series of protests from African nations, China has reiterated its stance against any acts of discrimination said improvements will be made to accommodate foreign nationals in the country.

Yet fears of a potential re-emergence of the disease in Guangzhou have contributed to the negative sentiment some locals are directing toward foreign residents.

Matthew Scott, an American citizen living in Guangzhou, told CGTN that he noticed "a huge change" in people's attitude towards foreigners since Guangzhou authorities announced the imported cases on April 7. "When I took the metro or the elevator, I could tell people were trying to stay away from me," Scott said. "That feeling of people shunning you because of your skin color is very uncomfortable, but at the very same time, I understand the psychology so I don't hold it against them."

Scott's observation resonates with many expats that CGTN has spoken to in Guangzhou.

On the one hand, individual choices made by ordinary citizens, frontline officials and communities may have gone beyond government directives, inevitably resulting in arbitrary practices that run counter to the local government's long-standing position on equality for all. On the other hand, the enormous strains that local authorities have to endure may have also led to decisions that failed to take into consideration the cultural sensitivities of the parties involved.

Scott, who also owns two restaurants in Guangzhou, said one of his restaurants received a visit from subdistrict officials on April 9 and was verbally instructed not to serve "foreigners and especially black people." His restaurant manager was handed a blue sign, which read "only takeaway service is acceptable." He had also been shown the same blue sign and denied entry to restaurants located in the city's other districts.

Su, a local resident who is trying to help Africans under mandatory quarantine, told CGTN that though some of them never left Guangzhou or have previously completed a required period of self-isolation upon their return to the country, they were still taken in early April by local authorities to designated hotels for another 14-day quarantine.

Su also bore witness to groups of exclusively black people lining up en route to the designated hotels.

Lack of communication between frontline staff and the quarantined Africans often causes friction, Su said, adding that there's a feeling of frustration among these Africans.

He has taken cash out of his own pocket and raised money to buy food and water for the quarantined Africans. So far he has received donations from both expats and local residents in Guangzhou. "They simply cannot afford to check into hotels and that's why I decided to help."

Among these Africans, some were also told by their landlords not to go back when local officials appeared at their doorsteps and informed them they had to move to a designated hotel on a temporary basis, Su said.

Zhao Jie, a seasoned lawyer who specializes in civil procedure, told CGTN that tenants who are expelled by property owners within an agreed period of time specified in the lease contract face two options: Finding relevant authorities to help reach a reconciliation between the two parties or filing a civil lawsuit against the landlords.

If landlords chase tenants out of their properties based on their own considerations, Zhao continued, they are most likely violating the contract since those considerations are usually not specified in the document. "While these property owners are not only breaching a written commitment but also breaking the law, they could simply ignore the authorities' non-binding advice, and should court cases proceed and the judge rule in favor of the tenants, they would usually only have to pay a certain amount of reparations to the ousted tenants according to the terms laid out in the contract."

But some expulsions were not enforced on landlords' own choices, according to a Nigerian who keeps in contact with some other African nationals in Guangzhou. "As some of those who were chased out don't have a valid visa, they lack the necessary tools to show proof to their communities that they have been staying in Guangzhou for more than 14 days."

In this case, it was those communities that carried out the evictions and the property owners only complied, he added. 

Behind the recent African-targeted home evictions was an aggregation of flooding information circulating online. Video clips showing individual Africans' refusal to comply with prevention measures, and the exaggerated number of foreign nationals accounting for the overall imported cases were sometimes received by audience who tend to react out of proportion. Coupled with the perennial speculations among Guangzhou residents that the mass majority of African expats are illegally staying in the city, some have taken their negative sentiment towards the black community online.

Zhao, who has practiced law for more than three decades in Guangzhou, also remarked that it was unethical for landlords to expel African tenants who did not violate any terms of the lease contract. "In the case where they are legally staying in the country, the abrupt decision to deny their legitimate stay in the apartment could make them homeless for an uncertain amount of time," he added. "Although they could demand financial compensation by taking the issue to court, the legal process could be excruciatingly stretched and thus exceptionally devastating for those who are already undergoing a rough time."

As the coronavirus pandemic spreads around the world, this is a time for compassion, not bigotry, Zhao said.

On Saturday, an open letter addressed to "Chinese and foreign nationals in Guangdong" was published by Foreign Affairs Office, People's government of Guangdong Province. Titled "One World One Fight - In solidarity we stand for the building of a community of common health for mankind," the letter acknowledges the "great pressure of guarding against imported cases and domestic resurgence", while urging all organizations and individuals not to "apply differentiated treatment or discriminatory practices to any specific group of people because of their nationality, race, gender or skin colour."

Last week, local news outlets also reported that the diverse departments of local authorities have jointly taken an array of measures to help all foreign nationals currently staying in Guangzhou to cope with the difficulties they might face during the epidemic. 

Emergency hotlines, health recording applications, and translation stands in foreigners-frequented locations - with all providing multilingual services - have been set up and some policies such as visa extension have also been temporally modified to accommodate the expat community.

Zhong, a food plaza manager in Tangxia, Guangzhou, told CGTN that officials from Guangzhou Bureau of Commerce came to the plaza on Wednesday and advised the owner of one of the restaurants not to deny service to foreigners.

"Though initially the owner thought the purpose of their visit was to warn against taking in foreigners, the officials stressed that this is not the type of policies the government advocates," Zhong said.