China threatens retaliation over Covid-19 testing rules for travellers

China threatens ‘countermeasures’ over other countries’ restrictions.

 

The Chinese government has suggested that travel restrictions imposed by several countries on Chinese arrivals are politically motivated, warning that it will retaliate.

 

Countries including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, India, Japan and several European nations have announced tougher measures on travellers from China.

 

Most arrivals will be tested, with positive cases to isolate.

 

“We believe that the entry restrictions adopted by some countries targeting China lack scientific basis, and some excessive practices are even more unacceptable,” China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a briefing.

 

“We are firmly opposed to attempts to manipulate the Covid measures for political purposes and will take countermeasures based on the principle of reciprocity.”

 

Western governments have hit back, claiming the rules have been put in place due to “a lack of comprehensive health information”.

 

They accuse China of not publishing Covid-19 data, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to also urge China to share more real-time information.

 

“This is an approach that is based solely and exclusively on science,” US state department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters.

 

James Chalmers, Treasurer of Australia, said “there certainly is a lot of concern around the global health community … about the transparency and quality of data that we see out of China on Covid.”

 

China’s shift away from a “zero-Covid” policy that had been championed by President Xi Jinping followed protests that had marked the strongest show of public defiance during his decade in power.

 

Due to the “zero-Covid” policy, the country’s economy has seen the slowest growth in nearly half a century.

 

Officials estimated 250 million people are likely to have contracted the virus in the first 20 days of December.

 

Shanghai alone had 5.43 million positive cases last month but the true number may be much higher as asymptomatic cases are no longer recorded.