China: Negative Covid tests imposed abroad go very badly

Audio 01:32

A traveler on a flight from China walks through the Covid-19 test cabins at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Roissy, near Paris, on January 1, 2023, as France tightens health measures in borders for passengers from China.

France and the UK joined a growing list of countries imposing Covid tests on travelers from China on December 30, after Beijing dropped restrictions on foreign travel despite soaring cases – and at the middle of questions about his data reports.

AFP - JULIEN DE ROSA

Text by: RFI Follow

4 mins

Beijing on Tuesday (January 3rd) condemned the imposition of Covid-19 tests by a dozen countries on Chinese travelers from China.

Health barriers, as the country prepares to reopen its borders, despite an unprecedented epidemic wave.

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With our correspondent in Beijing,

For the third consecutive time, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denounced what it considers to be an unrational decision.

“ 

 ”, castigated Mao Ning, one of the spokespersons for Chinese diplomacy, in front of journalists on Tuesday.

Beijing, she adds, will be able to take countermeasures on the “ 

 ”.

The adoption by some countries of restrictions, only for travelers coming from China, lacks a scientific basis and certain practices are unacceptable.

We strongly oppose attempts to manipulate health measures to achieve political goals.

Depending on the situation, China may take appropriate countermeasures in accordance with the principle of reciprocity.

These statements come a month after the lifting of epidemic prevention and control measures, which triggered a tsunami of infections in Chinese megacities and the saturation of the hospital system.

They also arrive, and above all, after nearly three years of closing the Chinese borders, with drastic health restriction measures on entry into the territory.

These, and in particular quarantines, will be abolished from this Sunday, but a PCR test within 48 hours, negative, will continue to be required for passengers arriving from abroad.

Hence the incomprehension of some of the Chinese on Tuesday.

What do the Chinese think?

Illustration in an immigration office located in the center of Beijing, it was a busy day on Tuesday.

The documents for entering and leaving the territory are distributed there, while the Chinese can travel again.

A family has just collected passports to travel to the United States.

At the exit, the father is delighted.

For too long, we have not been able to travel for tourism.

Now we can do it, it's great!

The problem is the tickets.

There are not many planes yet.

And then, you must also present a negative test 48 hours.

It's not much actually, it's just that people worry about whether there are sub-variants in China.

Not much ?

This young Pekingese who intends to resume studies abroad is not of this opinion.

Of course I don't understand these decisions.

The epidemic situation is more serious abroad.

They are the ones who can infect us.

So I feel discriminated against.

Well, they are afraid that the virus will mutate and it is true that there have been restrictions here before.

I don't know what to think about it, in fact, I have to go home.

Difficult to position oneself, when, for three years and a few weeks ago, the Chinese borders were sealed, forcing handpicked arrivals to carry out mandatory quarantines in dedicated hotels.

“ 

 , ”laughs a taxi driver.

"It's revenge"

The profession has been particularly impacted by the “zero-Covid” policy, in particular due to the reduction in air traffic.

No direct flight from abroad has been able to land in Beijing since the spring of 2020, the Chinese capital then being considered a health bubble within the health bubble.

Except that with Omicron, the situation is no longer the same, thinks this forty-something at the pedestrian crossing, who repeats word for word what the newspapers say.

It's revenge, that's for sure.

China has better controlled the epidemic and other countries are jealous.

And then, they are afraid of the variant in China.

These measures are useless anyway, because the virus is already everywhere.

You have to look at things scientifically.

Seeing things in a “scientific” way is also the argument of Chinese diplomacy which, again on Tuesday, qualified the restrictions aimed at travelers from China as “ 

”.

"We believe that some countries' entry restrictions aimed solely at #China (due to #COVID) lack scientific foundation, & that some excessive practices are even more unacceptable," said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning Tuesday.

She added that 1/4 pic.twitter.com/usP5nGQlpV

— Jiang Jiang (JJ) (@JiangJiang43) January 3, 2023

A passenger on a flight from Beijing leaves the terminal after landing in Madrid on December 31, 2022. AFP - PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU

The European Union persists and signs

Also on Tuesday, but on the European side, an " 

 " of EU countries, according to a Commission spokeswoman, came out in favor of these systematic tests imposed on travelers from the People's Republic of China before their departure for the Old Continent.

The measure is part of the recommendations issued following a meeting of a committee of health experts from the Twenty-Seven.

It will be discussed on Wednesday during a meeting intended to develop a coordinated response from the Union to the explosion of contamination on Chinese territory.

With agencies

►Read again: China: for 2023, Xi Jinping calls for effort and unity in the face of Covid-19

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