China has officially declared its opposition to US threats of sanctions or military actions against Nigeria over allegations of mass slaughter of Christians.
The Chinese government made its position known on Tuesday when Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning addressed a press conference in Beijing.
“As Nigeria’s comprehensive strategic partner, China firmly supports the Nigerian government in leading its people on the development path suited to its national conditions. China firmly opposes any country using religion and human rights as an excuse to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, and threatening other countries with sanctions and force,” Ms Ning said, according to the transcript of the interview posted on the Chinese government’s website.
PREMIUM TIMES reported the threat by US President Donald Trump to either sanction Nigeria or use military action if the Nigerian government does not stop what US officials claim is a genocide against Nigerian Christians.
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Mr Trump also designated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) and claimed that Christianity faces an existential threat in Nigeria, as radical Islamic groups were killing thousands of Christians.
This comes after weeks of campaigns and demands by some US lawmakers for the country to sanction Nigeria for allowing the “persecution of Christians.”
The officials had falsely accused the Nigerian government of facilitating an anti-Christian crusade in an attempt to rid the country of Christians.
The Nigerian government has, however, repeatedly denied the claims.
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In a statement issued on Saturday, President Bola Tinubu rejected the assertion of an existential threat to the Nigerian Christian faith, noting that the country strictly upholds the constitutional guarantees of religious liberty.
He stated that the portrayals of Nigeria as facilitating Christian genocide “do not reflect our national reality.”
He emphasised that Nigeria “opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it.”
Similarly, the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared that Nigeria is committed to tackling the violent extremism “fueled by special interests who have helped drive such decay and division in countries across the intersecting West African and Sahel regions.”
“Religious freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so,” it said.
