How come our government, which has a proclivity for unnecessarily showing its might to ordinary unarmed citizens, always develops a weak-kneed syndrome when dealing with foreign states and governments? 

Our citizens have been tortured and killed in Saudi Arabia for years, with no firm response from our government. Our government lacked the courage to stop flights from Europe and China even in the face of serious risk of the coronavirus and had to wait for other governments to “pave the way” before it took belated action. 

Our citizens and other black people are suffering from racial discrimination in China, and our government is again timid. The irony is that the same government would be happy to display maximum force, even when least justified, on its citizens.

Moreover, are we still a sovereign nation?
The government should summon the Chinese Ambassador to the Gambia over reports of maltreatment of Africans, including Gambian citizens studying and involved in retail business in China.

Any serious government concerned about the racial profiling of its citizens would have dispatched a protest letter to Beijing and summoned the Chinese Ambassador to explain matters. 

The tone of the correspondence of the Gambia government to Chinese authorities must capture the gravity of what Gambians are going through. 

It should smack any form of appeasement. A policy of appeasement as our citizens are being treated abominably as if they were vermin in order not to jeopardize a diplomatic relationship is too high a price to pay.

Africans in China have been posting videos on social media, alleging maltreatment in the Guangzhou area of China. No Gambian has been reported dead in China since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) broke out in Wuhan, China, last December. 

More than 1000  African people have died in China according to unofficial figures.

By Alagi Yorro Jallow