Chinese Embassy Denies 200 Nationals Left Kenya Last Night, Claims Reports Are “Imagined”

Chinese Embassy in Kenya has denied claims that at least 200 Chinese nationals left the country on Tuesday night.

In a tweet, the embassy said that the Daily Nation, which reported about the “Chinese Exodus”, imagined the allegations.

“The Embassy firmly reiterates that the reports on DN about Chinese taking flights back are false.There is no passenger flight to China this week.The claims that 200 Chinese flew out last night via China SA flight is totally false and based on the reporter’s imagination,” the tweet reads.

STATEMENT:The Embassy firmly reiterates that the reports on DN about Chinese taking flights back are false.There is no passenger flight to China this week.The claims that 200 Chinese flew out last night via China SA flight is totally false and based on the reporter's imagination. pic.twitter.com/0kONmLjTkd

— Chinese Embassy in Kenya (@ChineseEmbKenya) June 17, 2020

According to the daily, the Chinese nationals’ lawyer Isaac Okinyo, they left because they did not feel safe in Kenya.

According to the lawyer who moved to the High Court yesterday to have the Chinese nationals evacuated,  Kenya’s health system does not have the capacity to handle the Covid-19 pandemic.

“They have underlying conditions and others just don’t feel safe here. All the isolation centres are full, testing and contact tracing is a big deal to the Kenyan government,” Mr Okinyo said.

Last week, the daily reported that some 400 Chinese nationals had moved to court seeking to be repatriated.

They decried discrimination ever since the first case of coronavirus was reported in Kenya in mid-March.

Further, Mr Okinyo said, the other 200 Chinese nationals will leave some time this week.

“The remaining 200 will leave in the course of the week. We were expecting all of them to leave at once, but considering the social-distance rule and the new sitting arrangement, they could not leave at once,” said their lawyer Isaac Okinyo as quoted by the Nation.

Kenyans on Twitter thought the Chinese should be allowed to go back to their country, while others reckoned the embassy should be respectful in their delivery of communication.

Here are some of their thoughts:

Yes, I have trust issues with our media but between them and you, I'll always go with them rather than you.

Secondly, learn how to speak as a diplomat, don't patronise us. We are not your charges. https://t.co/s7Ttxb7xjw

— Sewe Saldanha (@SeweS_) June 17, 2020

I stand with @dailynation. Y’all don’t exactly have a track record when it comes to being upfront. Did y’all not gaslight us about the treatment of Africans in China even when we had receipts? That wasn’t imagination. Why publish if there is no incontrovertible proof?

— Hic sunt dracones (@EMungau) June 17, 2020

https://twitter.com/sanescript254/status/1273173467828047873

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