Understand China’s reaction to restrictions adopted by countries on travelers from the country

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China protested against nations that decided to impose rules to restrict access for Chinese citizens due to the pandemic’s timing in the country.

So far, the US, Australia, UK, France, Italy, Germany, India, Spain, Japan, South Korea, Qatar and Canada have announced that they will require a negative Covid test, and other places, such as Taiwan and Morocco, take other measures that will affect all passengers arriving from mainland China.

These countries allege that China has not adequately monitored the coronavirus variants circulating in the ongoing Covid outbreak there. The Chinese Foreign Ministry disagrees with the limitations.

“We do not believe that the entry restriction measures that some countries have taken against China are based on science. Some of these measures are disproportionate and simply unacceptable. We strongly reject the use of measures for political purposes and will take corresponding measures in response to varied situations with based on the principle of reciprocity,” said the ministry’s spokeswoman, Mao Ning, during a press conference in Beijing.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) demanded more transparency from China regarding the numbers of the Covid outbreak. The agency claims that it accessed the Chinese data and said it believed that Beijing was not presenting the real picture of the disease.

The entity’s director of emergencies, Irish physician Mike Ryan, told the press that the numbers made available so far “underrepresent the real impact of the disease in terms of hospital admissions, ICUs and, particularly, in terms of deaths”.

Why it matters: Based on projections of daily infections and expert analysis, it is possible to say that China is not fully reporting the scenario caused by the virus in the country at this time. As the testing capacity was also greatly reduced, the monitoring of possible new variants was compromised.

However, it is difficult to understand how the requirement of Covid tests for travelers coming from China can stop the spread of a potential Chinese variant in the rest of the world, given that most countries have abandoned effective measures to control the disease. Considering the virus’s incubation time, it is also possible that someone with a negative test at the time of boarding will only detect Covid when they are already in another territory.

Not by chance, several American entities have rejected the measure, stating that it can serve as fuel for hate groups against Asians. But so far there are no signs that these countries intend to back down from their decisions.

what also matters

Sinovac, the pharmaceutical company that developed the Coronavac vaccine, announced the development of a nasal spray with 80% effectiveness against Covid.

According to the Chinese company, thousands of health professionals were recruited for the study in Hohhot, in the province of Inner Mongolia. They were divided into two groups: one with the immunizer and the other just as a control, without using any product. Preliminary results showed that using the spray twice a day made the chance of developing the disease five times lower than among members of the second group.

The product contains an antibody known as SA58, which would be effective against even all known omicron subvariants. Among the reported adverse effects are coryza, dryness of the mucosa and sneezing, all of which are mild and of short duration.

Several companies have been developing nasal vaccines, which, if they go through all the validation steps, can stimulate the production of antibodies in the mucosa of the upper airways and prevent the disease from developing in the lungs. China is the only country to use this type of immunizer on a large scale so far – in this case, the one manufactured by Cansino, which received the release to be applied.

After nearly three years, mainland China will reopen the border with Hong Kong. Traffic between the two regions was interrupted right at the beginning of the health crisis, and now the plan is to authorize up to 60,000 residents of the territory (50,000 via land checkpoints and 10,000 by air or via the Hong Kong-Macau- Zhuhai) cross the border from January 8.

Quarantine will no longer be required, but visitors will still need to have a negative PCR test result within 48 hours of arriving in mainland China. Advance reservations will also be required for some trips.

keep an eye

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former NATO secretary general, said this week that the Western military alliance, led by the United States, must stop China from attacking Taiwan.

• The Dane, who led the organization between 2009 and 2014, is visiting the island considered by Beijing as a rebel province for a few days. In his speech, Rasmussen argued that Europe and the US cannot make the same mistakes with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as they did with Putin.
• “The free world has shown impressive unity in response to the Ukraine War. We are sure that Xi Jinping is watching closely. Any attempt by China to change the status quo in Taiwan by force must trigger an equally unified response, and we must let that happen.” clear to China.”

He also called on “European leaders to publicly commit to cutting off China’s access to the global economy if there is a move [hostil] against Taiwan”.

Why it matters: NATO was conceived after the Second World War to face Russia and has Article 5, a mutual defense agreement, as its cornerstone. The rule states that an attack against one member of the alliance is an attack against all, requiring military involvement from all allies.

The gradual shift of focus from Russia to China is bad news for Beijing and puts pressure on the Asian country. The measure, however, could make the Chinese even closer to the Russians, with unpredictable military consequences.

to go deep

• The Chinese embassy in Brazil started publishing a series of videos on Instagram demystifying what it’s like to study in the country and explaining the scholarship processes available. In partnership with Xianzai educational consultancy, the videos can be accessed here. (free, in Portuguese)
• Planning to travel to China in 2023? The government of the Asian giant announced the new rules for entering the country, which should reopen the borders next week. The update can be read here. (free, in Portuguese)