China opposes Trump’s threat against Nigeria, declares support for Nigerian Government

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.

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.

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.

By Beloved John, Premium Times

Related story: Nigeria pushes back on Trump’s claims over Christian killings

Nigeria pushes back on Trump’s claims over Christian killings

The Nigerian government has dismissed claims made by US President Donald Trump about the persecution of Christians in the West African nation, insisting that religious freedom is fully protected under the country’s constitution.

Responding to a reporter’s question at a news conference in Berlin on Tuesday, Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar held up a document whose cover read “Nigeria’s Constitutional Commitment to Religious Freedom and Rule of Law”.

“All the answers are in there. This is what guides us,” Tuggar said, speaking alongside Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul. “It’s impossible for there to be religious persecution that can be supported in any way, shape or form by the government of Nigeria at any level.”

Tuggar’s comments come after Trump wrote on social media on Saturday that if the Nigerian government “continues to allow the killing of Christians”, the US would stop all aid to the country. Trump added that he had instructed the so-called Department of War “to prepare for possible action”.

And on Sunday, Trump doubled down, saying Washington could deploy troops or conduct air strikes. “They are killing a record number of Christians in Nigeria,” he said. “We are not gonna allow that to happen.”

The threats came after the US president had redesignated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern – a label the US government gives to countries seen as responsible for severe violations of religious freedom.

Trump’s assertions echo claims that have gained traction among right-wing and Christian evangelical circles in the past months. US Senator Ted Cruz, a Trump ally, blamed Nigerian officials for what he called “Christian massacres” and introduced in September the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025, which, he said, aims to hold officials who “facilitate Islamic Jihadist violence and the imposition of blasphemy laws” accountable.

While admitting a problem with security issues, Nigerian officials rebuked Trump’s claims, saying that people across all faiths, not just Christians, are victims of armed groups’ violence. “The characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality,” said Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, a Muslim from southern Nigeria who is married to a Christian pastor.

About 238 million people live in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation. Around 46 percent of the population is Muslim, largely residing in the north, and about 46 percent are Christian, mostly located in the south, according to the Association of Religion Data Archives.

For more than a decade, Boko Haram and other armed groups have clashed in the northeast, forcing millions of people from their homes. Since Tinubu took power two years ago, pledging stronger security, more than 10,000 people have been killed there, according to Amnesty International.

In the centre, there are increasing attacks on predominantly Christian farming communities by herders from the rival Fulani pastoral ethnic group, which is predominantly Muslim. The attacks there are mostly over access to water and pasture.

By Virginia Pietromarchi, Al Jazeera

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