Implications of International Migration Restrictions on Inter-State Diplomatic Relations During COVID-19: China–Africa in Perspective

The outbreak of COVID-19, which was first detected in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China in December 2019, and its subsequent spread across the world resulted in the adoption of restrictive measures to movement of people within and across national borders by various countries. Global mobility and migration were heavily restricted due to travel bans and enforcement of stringent measures (in the form of additional requirements that were medical, visa-related, technical, and in some instances political in nature) at various ports of entry and exit. Before COVID-19, estimates stated that there were around one million Chinese living in Africa whilst about 500 000 African migrants lived in China. In 2019, it was reported that Chinese foreign direct investment in Africa had reached US$44 billion whilst the value of China-Africa trade stood at US$192 billion the same year. This meant there was extensive mobility of people between Africa and China involved in investment, people-to-people exchange programmes, skilled and unskilled labour movement, in addition to movement of students, traders, and economic opportunity seekers. Whilst the enforcement of stricter regulations of movement of people between China and African countries attempted to prevent, manage and control COVID-19; this had its own implications on the long-standing inter-state diplomatic relations. Using both qualitative and quantitative secondary data from a variety of sources (reports, books, newspapers and various media sources) and the concepts of international migration and migration diplomacy for analysis, this chapter critically examines the impact and implications of international mobility and migration restrictions on inter-state relations between China and Africa during COVID-19. The findings in this chapter are essential in contributing to the discourse of international migration during pandemics, specifically in shaping responses to pandemic-induced migration crisis.