A Chinese man has been deported after a video
emerged of him making racist comments, Kenya's immigration department says.
The man, indentified as Liu Jiaqi, was captured in
a video calling all Kenyans, including President Uhuru Kenyatta,
"monkeys".
Mr Liu and his representatives have yet to comment
on the situation.
The authorities have revoked his work permit and
say he was arrested after making racist remarks.
An employee filmed Mr Liu, who is a motorcycle
trader, saying that he disliked Kenya because it "smells bad and [its
people are] poor, foolish and black".
When the employee asked why he wanted to stay in
the country, the trader said he was only there to make money.
Police arrested him hours after the video was
circulated online on 5 September.
When was he filmed?
Mr Liu appeared to be threatening to fire an
employee in the three-minute video, which according to the Chinese embassy was
filmed in June.
When the employee asked why he was being targeted,
Mr Liu said it was because the employee was Kenyan.
Mr Liu then launched into an offensive diatribe
about why he disliked the country and its people.
"All the Kenyans [are] like a monkey, even
Uhuru Kenyatta," Mr Liu said.
Nairobi's Chinese embassy spokesperson, Zhang
Gang, told AFP that Mr Liu "has already been punished by his company for
his wrongdoing and apologised to his Kenyan colleague".
"The personal talk and personal feeling of
this young man does not represent the views of the vast majority of Chinese
people," he said.
Why was he deported?
In a tweet the immigration department said that he
had been arrested "due to his racism remarks".
But it is unclear whether the immigration
department can deport someone on grounds of racism.
Discrimination based on colour is against the law,
reports the BBC's Anne Soy in Nairobi.
Is this the first such case?
Yes. It is the first case of someone being
deported but there have been other allegations of racism.
In 2015, the owner of a Chinese restaurant in
Nairobi was arrested after public outrage over the restaurant's alleged policy
of banning African customers at night.
The owner was charged with operating without a
liquor licence and failing to meet public health standards, but nothing to do
with racism, our reporter says.
Kenyan employees of the much vaunted
Chinese-operated Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project have also alleged wage
discrimination and mistreatment.
It included an "unwritten rule" that
Kenyan workers do not sit at the same table as the Chinese staff at the
canteen, the Kenyan daily The Standard reports.
However, the Kenyan government has dismissed those
allegations.
What are relations like between Kenyans and
Chinese?
There are an estimated 10,000 Chinese nationals
living in the East African country - their move is part of a growing link that
has been propelled by China's investment in the country.
China has invested millions of dollars into Kenya
in recent years, including the SGR railway project which links the capital,
Nairobi, to the coast.
President Kenyatta was in Beijing earlier this
week to take part in the China-Africa cooperation summit where he said:
"Kenya appreciates China's demonstrated commitment in supporting Kenya's
development goals."
News of Mr Liu's potential deportation came a day
after police in Nairobi raided the African headquarters of China Global
Television Network (CGTN) as part of a crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Several journalists were briefly detained but
released after their papers were found to be in order.
The Chinese embassy said it would express its
concern through diplomatic channels after several incidents in which its
nationals with legal documents were hauled into police stations, AFP reports.
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