As a source of raw metals, Tajikistan has become a
destination for thousands of low-skill Chinese laborers. How Beijing
regards these workers has charged into view during the coronavirus
pandemic. Spoiler alert: They are not a priority.
Chinese workers at a mine in northern Tajikistan had been demanding passage home for weeks before learning that a Chinese national in the country had contracted COVID-19. Rumors then spread that two had died. On May 20, around 100 of the miners rioted, reportedly fearful they would not receive adequate treatment in Tajikistan if they, too, were infected. Authorities suppressed them with force. Many Chinese workers are stranded.
Contrast their treatment with the fuss made over a Chinese engineer in Turkmenistan: On May 1, China’s envoy to Ashgabat, Sun Weidong, called Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov to ask that a Chinese medivac plane be permitted to land and fetch the engineer, who had suffered a detached retina. He was evacuated for surgery in Tianjin.
It often appears that Chinese diplomats elsewhere in Central Asia are more concerned with their nationals’ health and well-being. For months, embassy press releases from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have described efforts to distribute protective equipment and medicine to Chinese businessmen, teachers, engineers and students. The Chinese Embassy in Tajikistan, by comparison, has been more reticent. Judging by the outpost’s few statements, only a handful of students and teachers have received such packages. A package of aid did finally arrive for the miners, reported China Securities Journal on May 20, the day they resorted to rioting.
Read more at:
Chinese business briefing: Working overtime | Eurasianet
Chinese workers at a mine in northern Tajikistan had been demanding passage home for weeks before learning that a Chinese national in the country had contracted COVID-19. Rumors then spread that two had died. On May 20, around 100 of the miners rioted, reportedly fearful they would not receive adequate treatment in Tajikistan if they, too, were infected. Authorities suppressed them with force. Many Chinese workers are stranded.
Contrast their treatment with the fuss made over a Chinese engineer in Turkmenistan: On May 1, China’s envoy to Ashgabat, Sun Weidong, called Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov to ask that a Chinese medivac plane be permitted to land and fetch the engineer, who had suffered a detached retina. He was evacuated for surgery in Tianjin.
It often appears that Chinese diplomats elsewhere in Central Asia are more concerned with their nationals’ health and well-being. For months, embassy press releases from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have described efforts to distribute protective equipment and medicine to Chinese businessmen, teachers, engineers and students. The Chinese Embassy in Tajikistan, by comparison, has been more reticent. Judging by the outpost’s few statements, only a handful of students and teachers have received such packages. A package of aid did finally arrive for the miners, reported China Securities Journal on May 20, the day they resorted to rioting.
Read more at:
Chinese business briefing: Working overtime | Eurasianet
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