The Foreign Affair Office, People's Government of Guangdong Province of China on April 18, 2020, issued an open letter. It reads as follows.
Dear Chinese and foreign nationals in Guangdong,
Guangdong is a province with a large population, prosperous economy, developed foreign trade, and a high degree of opening up to the outside world in China. It is held dear as the beautiful home by Chinese and foreign nationals living in harmony here. Under the strong leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the CPC Central Committee, Guangdong has implemented science-based, legal measures in an orderly manner in the prevention and control of COVID-19 since the outbreak, and people in Guangdong have all worked together in this fight. Through unremitting efforts, positive trend in preventing and controlling COVID-19 has been constantly consolidated and expanded. In this process, we have received care and support from consulates general in Guangzhou, foreign governments, NGOs and friendly people, which we highly appreciate and will always remember and cherish.
At present, the entire landscape of epidemic prevention and control remains challenging and complex, and we are still faced with great pressure of guarding against imported cases and domestic resurgence. For the safety and health of Chinese and foreign nationals in Guangdong, it is necessary for us to join hands in building stronger defense against COVID-19. Virus does not respect borders, nor does it distinguish between races. People of the world must work together if we want to win this battle. Hence, we would like to state the following:
A. Governments at all levels in Guangdong have taken comprehensive, strict and thorough prevention and control measures, and have strictly applied undifferentiated health management service to both Chinese and foreign nationals in Guangdong in accordance with laws and regulations. All foreign nationals in China are treated equally.
B. Humanistic care is provided when implementing epidemic prevention and control measures and offering health management service. We give full consideration to reasonable concerns of Chinese and foreign nationals and provide necessary guarantee and assistance to effectively protect their legitimate rights and interests.
C. All Chinese and foreign nationals in Guangdong are obliged to cooperate with governments at all levels and relevant departments to implement prevention and control measures according to Chinese laws and regulations. Those who violate the laws or regulations shall be held accountable.
D. We firmly oppose any discriminatory practice against specific individual or group, and allow zero tolerance for discriminatory remarks and deeds.
E. Any organization or individual shall not restrict or refuse providing hotel accommodation and renting houses to any specific group of people because of their nationality, race, gender or skin colour. Nor should they be denied free access to such public venues as local communities, shops and parks.
F. Any organization or individual shall not restrict or turn away any specific group of people from taking metro, buses, taxis or other public transportation because of their nationality, race, gender or skin colour, and shall not refuse to provide daily services including hair cutting, shopping and catering for them.
G. Any organization or individual shall not apply differentiated treatment or discriminatory practices to any specific group of people because of their nationality, race, gender or skin colour when they are seeking medical care in medical institutions.
H. Governments at all levels in Guangdong respect and protect the diplomatic and consular privileges and immunities of foreign diplomatic or consular personnel in China, and provide facilitation for them in fulfilling diplomatic and consular duties.
I. In this special period of time, we encourage all Chinese and foreign nationals in Guangdong to obtain the latest information concerning epidemic prevention and control from authoritative sources, and to maintain a rational and objective attitude.
J．We provide assistance for foreign nationals in Guangdong who have any reasonable request concerning epidemic prevention and control. Our multilingual service hotline 1258088 is 24-hour available.
We look forward to working with all Chinese and foreign nationals in Guangdong to tide over the difficulties, safeguard the common health and well-being of all, to win the battle against COVID-19, and protect our beautiful homeland.