In a state visit to Nigeria, China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, has reportedly urged Chinese companies operating in Nigeria to respect Nigerian regulatory rules, while pledging China’s support to Nigeria’s development.
According to Nairametrics.com, the Foreign Minister, responding to questions about the harsh treatment of Nigerian workers by Chinese firms, said that China would not tolerate such treatment. He and added that if there were cases of such maltreatment, there were means to address the problems diplomatically.
Wang Yi is reported by Nairametrics to have firmly stated that “we make this clear to each and every Chinese company doing business in Nigeria, Nigerian laws must be strictly abided by, local customs shall be respected. We believe most of the Chinese companies here are doing well in this regard, but there can be a few exceptions because of this or that kind of reasons they might have some labor issues.”
The foreign minister added that “this is not something the Chinese government wants to see and whenever such issues occur we have diplomatic channels to communicate to make sure that the situation is properly handled to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Nigerian workers.”
Touching on the diplomatic state of affairs between the East African economic giant and Nigeria, Wang Yi said “China remains a developing country, China’s cooperation with Nigeria is South-South cooperation. What makes this different from North-South Cooperation is that the former is all about mutual help and support between friends. China sees to it that we do not interfere in Nigeria’s internal affairs.”
How important is Nigeria-China relations to the wider Africa-China relations?
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Africans on China (AoC) is a media-tech platform and consultancy on a mission to create a self-sufficient Africa that relates with the world, especially China, on mutually beneficial terms. We are led by a team of passionate African professionals who are experts in their field. Together, we bring decades of strategic and business expertise in the African and Chinese business and educational markets.
