China condemns ‘unacceptable’ travel restrictions amid COVID data suspicions
Joel Gehrke
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A wave of restrictions on travel from China is “simply unacceptable,” according to Chinese officials who protested the measures amid widespread doubts about coronavirus data shared by Beijing.
“China always believes that for all countries, COVID response measures need to be science-based and proportionate,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters Tuesday. “We firmly reject using COVID measures for political purposes and will take corresponding measures in response to varying situations based on the principle of reciprocity.”
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A massive wave of coronavirus infections has rolled across China in the weeks since protests against draconian lockdowns spurred Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping to abandon his “zero-COVID” policy. More than a dozen countries around the world have imposed a COVID test requirement on travelers from China, in part due to misgivings about the quality of the data provided by Chinese officials.
“We want to see a more realistic picture of what is actually going on,” Dr. Marion Koopmans, a World Health Organization adviser, told Reuters prior to a closed meeting on Tuesday. “It is in the interests of China itself to come forward with more reliable information.”
The misgivings reprise a controversy that erupted following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic three years ago, when Chinese censorship of the earliest pandemic warnings provoked global outrage. Chinese officials have asserted their “transparent manner” in terms that seem tailored to avoid the criticisms they faced previously, as when then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo faulted the communist regime for failing to provide “the virus samples we need” to study the threat.
“We shared the genome data of the virus from the latest COVID cases in China via the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID),” Mao said. “Several days ago, the competent Chinese authorities had a virtual meeting with the WHO and had a technical exchange on the current COVID situation, treatment, and vaccination.”
Chinese official data acknowledged only one COVID death on Dec. 26, to the disbelief of Chinese people “having trouble booking cremations,” as Radio Free Asia put it.
“The body is still back home, and we can’t get through on the phone — that’s about as likely as winning the lottery,” one person whose relative had died was quoted as telling local press. “There are so many people waiting for the funeral home to collect bodies.”
China’s self-proclaimed transparency has not allayed the concerns of the United States and leading allies across Europe and the Indo-Pacific. The United Kingdom, Italy, and France have imposed a pre-departure testing requirement on travelers from China, with Paris adding randomized tests of travelers upon arrival.
“France will push for this methodology to be applied across the EU,” French Health Minister Francois Braun said Monday.
South Korea, Japan, India, and Australia have imposed similar pre-departure COVID test requirements. “The key driver of this decision is what the World Health Organization has described as an absence of comprehensive information about what is a very fast-moving situation in China,” Australian Health Minister Mark Butler said.
Still, Butler acknowledged that Australian health officials “take a view that the resumption of travel between China and Australia poses no public health threat to Australians” due to Australia’s high vaccination rate and treatment protocols.
“I do not believe that there is sufficient public health rationale to impose any restriction or additional requirements on travelers from China,” Australian Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly told Butler in a Dec. 31 letter.
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Mao, the foreign ministry spokeswoman, invoked “health experts from many countries” to anchor the assertion that “the main variant now spreading in China” is already circulating in other countries as well.
“A new variant can emerge anywhere on the planet, which means entry restrictions targeting China are unnecessary,” she said. “China always believes that for all countries, COVID response measures need to be science-based and proportionate. They should not be used for political manipulation, there should not be discriminatory measures against certain countries, and measures should not affect normal travel and people-to-people exchange and cooperation.”