NEO-BIAFRANISM IN GUANGZHOU: SOCIOPOLITICAL AND DIPLOMATIC IMPLICATIONS FOR CHINA

Abstract

The Igbo diaspora is one the factors transnationalizing the agitation, raging in Nigeria, for the establishment of an Igbo-dominated country to be called Biafra. Diasporic support for the agitation has been open and vehement in countries like South Africa, Italy, Spain, Britain and the U.S. On the contrary, diasporic support in countries like China and Malaysia has been mostly restricted to the generosity of the financial donations pro-Biafran migrants discreetly make to Biafra movements like the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and Independent People of Biafra (IPOB). Diasporic support for certain activities and movements in the origin countries can have far-reaching implications for the host countries. In this paper, the potential impact of separatist activism by pro-Biafra migrants in Guangzhou on China’s sociopolitical stability as well as China-Nigeria diplomacy are discussed. On the Mainland, Biafranism can stoke political activism among human rights and pro-democracy campaigners as well as ethnic nationalism among ethnic minorities, particularly Uighurs and Tibetans. In Hong Kong, it can stoke independence agitation. With regard to foreign policy, it can strain China’s diplomatic relations with Nigeria if Nigeria should accuse China of harbouring political subversives. The paper is sourced with the data from literature and fieldwork in Guangzhou during 2015-2017.