Welcome Carpet or No Entry? How countries are divided on China's decision to restart international travel

The world is divided as China has decided to relax its travel curbs from early January. While many countries have welcomed the Asian giant’s move to lift the restrictions on its citizens going abroad, some foreign governments are wary of the expected influx of travellers from China, which is witnessing a wave of infections.

Earlier in December, China made sweeping changes to its strict zero-COVID policy, relaxing several curbs in the wake of widespread protests. This resulted in a new outbreak of coronavirus, with its health infrastructure bearing the brunt, and concerns about the emergence of new variants.

Relaxing its harsh COVID curbs further, China has now announced that it will scrap its mandatory quarantine policy on arrival to the mainland from 8 January 2023.

But, why Beijing dropping its quarantine-on-arrival policy has elicited a mixed response from the world? Let’s understand.

France and others welcome Chinese travellers back

The tourism departments and embassies of France, Thailand, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Austria and Switzerland are trying to lure Chinese travellers through messages on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.

The French embassy said in a social media post, “Chinese friends, France welcomes you with open arms", which received a positive response online, reported Hong Kong-based newspaper South China Morning Post (SCMP).

People reacted with comments such as “our French friends are also welcome to be our guest and travel in China”.

As per CNN, the Thai national tourism administration wrote on Weibo, “Thailand has been waiting for you for three years!”

A post by Spain’s tourist board, with images of Barcelona, read: “After three whole years, Spain is finally done waiting for you!”

“Embrace spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and travel in the Netherlands by bike in 2023!” Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions said on Weibo, as per China Daily.

Similar posts were made by other countries to invite Chinese tourists.

Before the pandemic, China was a major spender in overseas tourism, accounting for $277 billion or 16 per cent of the world’s total $1.7 trillion global tourism spending, as per United Nations’ World Tourism Organization.

Why some countries are sceptical

Not everyone has given an enthusiastic response to China’s amended travel rules.

Japan started demanding COVID-19 tests from passengers coming from China on Friday (30 December). The move comes amid a surge of coronavirus infections in China as well as a spurt of cases and record-level deaths in Japan.

The tourists from mainland China who test positive will be quarantined for up to seven days at designated facilities in Japan, while their samples will be sent for genome analysis, as per Associated Press (AP).

There will also be a limit on direct flights between China and Japan for now.

Earlier this week, Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida had pointed out “great discrepancies" in the information coming from China about the official COVID-19 numbers.

The United States will also require coronavirus tests from 5 January from visitors entering the country from China, Hong Kong and Macau.

The US cited a lack of “adequate and transparent” COVID data in China to justify the move. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this was required “to help slow the spread of the virus as we work to identify… any potential new variants that may emerge”, reported BBC.

India has imposed similar measures and now mandates a negative COVID report for travellers arriving from mainland China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand. Passengers from these countries will have to quarantine if they test positive.

Italy has also made COVID-19 antigen swabs and virus sequencing for all travellers from China mandatory.

Around 52 per cent of passengers aboard a 26 December flight from China to Milan’s Malpensa Airport had tested positive for COVID, reported la Repubblica.

“The measure is essential to ensure surveillance and detection of possible variants of the virus in order to protect the Italian population,” the country’s health minister Orazio Schillaci was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Amid the expectation of a huge inflow of Chinese visitors during Lunar New Year which begins on 22 January, Taiwan will also start testing passengers from the mainland.

South Korea will ask travellers from China to provide negative test results on arrival, as per the country’s News1 news agency.

Malaysia has announced new surveillance and tracking measures. The country will screen all inbound travellers for fever and test wastewater from planes coming from China for COVID-19, minister Zaliha Mustafa said on Friday.

Spain has also joined the list of nations that demand COVID test results or a full vaccination report upon arrival for visitors from China, reported Reuters.

Countries monitoring situation

The UK said on Thursday it does not have plans “at the moment” to impose testing requirements for inbound travellers.

However, the British government is reviewing whether to carry out COVID tests on passengers from China.

Australia has not followed the footsteps of other nations to impose mandatory tests on those coming from China.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government is monitoring the situation in the Asian country “as we continue to monitor the impact of COVID here in Australia as well as around the world.”

The Philippines said it is being “very cautious” and did not rule out the possibility of imposing measures such as testing requirements for passengers from China.

New Zealand also said it will keep track of the situation in China, but did not call for restrictions on arrivals from the country.

China, EU react

China has hit back at countries that have imposed testing requirements on its tourists, calling them “unfounded and discriminatory”.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has urged countries to adopt a scientific approach and treat all visitors equally, reported SCMP.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has said screening of arrivals from China would be “unjustified”, adding that the COVID surge was “not expected to impact” the bloc and the virus strains affecting China are already present in the EU.

This came after Italy urged the European Union to ensure travellers from China are tested and quarantined if necessary.

With inputs from agencies

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