Africans walk in the Xiatangxilu area in Guangzhou, Guangdong province on April 1, 2014. More Africans are choosing to do business in the city. [ZOU ZHONGPIN/CHINA DAILY]

Xie Xiaodan, deputy mayor and director of the Guangzhou city bureau of public security, urged departments in his city to offer even better service to foreigners.

Xie dismissed rumors that Guangzhou has now registered more than 600,000 people from African nations and regions.

According to statistics from the city's entry and exit department, Guangzhou has about 120,000 permanent foreign residents, including 16,000 from Africa.

In addition to doing business, African people arrive in Guangzhou for work, study and sightseeing, Xie said.

The African people live in the Dengfeng, Kuangquan, Taojin and Xinshi communities of the city's Baiyun and Yuexiu districts.

Guangzhou welcomes all foreign people who arrive in the city with valid travel documents and visas, while sparing no effort to fight illegal immigration, Xie said.

Peng Peng, a senior researcher with the Guangzhou Academy of Social Science, said departments should step up efforts to curb illegal immigration in the city.

"But the legal interests and rights of the foreigners, including Africans, who arrive in Guangzhou with effective travel documents should be protected according to laws," Peng said.