Chinese Ambassador to Ghana Gong Jianzhong has expressed protest in a meeting with Ghanaian authorities against the Thursday shooting of a Chinese citizen allegedly involved in illegal mining.

Gong also urged Ghana's National Security Coordinator Larry Gbevlo Lartey Friday to punish the people responsible and pay due compensation to the victim's family members, according to a statement by the Chinese embassy in Ghana released Sunday.

The victim, surnamed Chen, from Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, was killed Thursday in a crackdown on illegal gold mining conducted by the local police in Manso, a small town in southern Ghana. Chen's father and uncle were released on bail Saturday afternoon last week, according to the statement.

Over 100 Chinese citizens who allegedly engaged in illegal gold mining in Ghana's Ashanti region were arrested on October 10 and 11, a press officer at the Chinese embassy in Ghana told the Global Times, adding that most of the Chinese citizens arrested have no residential permits or working visas.

Chinese men in poor health and women have all been released on bail, the statement said.

The Ghana government said it will deal with the incident strictly in line with the law.

"The Ghana authorities should present sufficient evidence to justify the shooting, or else they don't have the right to kill a Chinese citizen for illegal gold mining," Hong Daode, a law professor with the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times.

There have been many incidents of Chinese citizens being arrested for illegal gold mining this year, and Ghanaian authorities have recently ramped up efforts to crack down on the activity, the foreign ministry's statement said, while also urging Chinese citizens to obey local laws and rules.

Gong said in September that despite lacking proper paperwork, many of the Chinese miners are also victims as they were trapped in Ghana by local agents and mine owners, and he hoped the Ghana side can solve the problem at its root, instead of only arresting illegal Chinese miners, China National Radio reported.

In addition to high gold prices, which have more than tripled over the last decade, Chinese entrepreneurs' increasing investment in mining have also contributed to the rising number of Chinese miners going to Ghana, said Xu Weizhong, an expert on African studies with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

The Chinese government should guide its people to obey local laws, as well as strengthen its communication and cooperation with Ghana authorities, he added.