The moves come as the U.S. has seen its COVID-19 outlook improve dramatically in recent weeks since the summer delta surge that pushed hospitals to the brink in many locations. How harsh are Chinas COVID restrictions? Mr Xi attends overseas summits by video-link. International schools are braced for a fresh exodus this summer, it is said, including of teachers who have not seen families outside China for more than a year. The domestic propaganda machinery has spent months boasting of the superiority of Chinas authoritarian system in suppressing the virus. our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. The semi-autonomous Chinese territory recently reopened to foreign visitors, although it still has some of the harshest quarantine rules in the world. A woman looks out at Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor on September 30. For the most part, citizens and residents could enter the city after serving 14- to 21-day quarantines. Many Chinese are proud rightfully of Chinas ability to swiftly tame the outbreak, despite its initial mishandling. Rick Bowmer/AP Beijing expelled at least 18 foreign correspondents last year, and few Western outlets have been granted visas for new journalists to be based in China, according to the Foreign Correspondents Club of China. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. You can also find trackers showing the global roll-out of vaccines, excess deaths by country and the viruss spread across Europe and America. In the article, many respondents cited the ongoing detainment of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor as a primary source of their anxiety. As of Monday, China has fully vaccinated 74.8% of its population, while 82.5% of Chinese citizens have received at least one vaccine dose. More than a year and a half after COVID-19 concerns prompted the U.S. to close its borders to international travelers from countries including Brazil, China, India, South Africa, the U.K. and much . public health experts and local politicians. I n March 2020, . In the politically tumultuous two years following the 2019 Hong Kong protests, China has extended more and more of its reach into the city and in return, Lams administration has stepped up its rhetoric emphasizing integration with the mainland. Chinese leaders have declared that zero tolerance of covid-19. Outside the window, dark floodwater rips past, surging down the subway tracks. Even if none of these reasons seems urgent, there is something of a hard deadline for substantial reopening to take place in time for the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022. Locally made jabs have been given to two-fifths of the population, with assurances that they are highly effective. 2023 Cable News Network. China now issues a few visas for temporary business and family visits. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. will accept travelers who have been fully vaccinated with any of the vaccines approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization, not just those in use in the U.S. That means that the AstraZeneca vaccine, widely used in Canada, will be accepted. Students have postponed their studies, threatening the finances of universities across the globe; small international businesses have shut down; and the belt and road initiative, designed to broaden Chinas global impact, has been slowed. Even so, these vaccines still prevent severe cases of covid-19 which, in theory, reduces pressure on the health-care system. (Ambassadors may quarantine at home for 21 days, but only if their residence is a detached house and they are driven there with a police escort.). 2023 Fortune Media IP Limited. However, some restrictions are still in place. Evergrande said Monday that it would take legal action against the creditor for demanding the court freeze its assets. Many people in China like being covid-free. Lots of Chinese are cross about a lack of overseas praise for their countrys strict approach. That may take a while.. More than a year and a half after COVID-19 concerns prompted the U.S. to close its borders to international travelers from countries including Brazil, China, India, South Africa, the U.K. and much of Europe, restrictions are shifting to focus on vaccine status. When borders reopen to tourists, countries that ran large surpluses on their tourism accounts pre-Covid -- Thailand and New Zealand among others -- stand to gain the most, writes Asia Chief economist Chang Shu. Moodys and Fitch also both downgraded Evergrandes credit rating in June, citing its worsening financial conditions. And if Hong Kong wants to reopen to the mainland, it may have to abide by a similar zero-tolerance approach to COVID-19. Nationalism and impatience with foreign criticism were on the rise before covid-19. But no foreign vaccines have been approved and its home-grown ones, including Sinopharm and Sinovac, are not very effective against Delta. At present, more than 15 million people have been vaccinated in China. But in May, EU regulators trying to inspect a vaccine production site near Beijing were stymied by Chinese officials who insisted that those busy scientists would have to spend three weeks in quarantine. 2023 Cable News Network. 2. All Rights Reserved. A combination of education, incentives, regular small outbreaks and the occasional rumour about future vaccine shortages is likely to suffice. Though a few of the countrys top scientists have cautiously questioned how long Chinas zero-covid policies may last, there are no signs the government is moving away from its position. Chinese officials declined to explain. But this approach has sowed growing discontent among the public, particularly foreign nationals, who make up nearly 10% of the citys 7.5 million population. Some provinces require additional quarantine upon arrival. Did you encounter any technical issues? Hong Kongs vaccination campaign has improved in recent months after a sluggish start, but 50% of Hong Kong residents remain completely unvaccinated. In the last year, I have hiked in five provinces, organised a week-long in-person meeting in a tropical botanical garden involving scientists from 20 academic institutions, and attended scores of live music and dance events, featuring maskless musicians playing to packed, maskless crowds. All Rights Reserved. 27/12/2022. Mainland China is currently deploying measures like strict lockdowns while battling its own Delta-driven COVID-19 outbreaks, even as it has provided enough vaccine doses to inoculate two-thirds of its population. The reasons are many. China's borders will likely remain shut for months, but some may be wary of visiting even after they reopen By Nectar Gan and Jessie Yeung, CNN Updated 2:39 AM EDT, Wed July 21, 2021 Link. Equally, China may want to buy time for a locally made mRNA vaccine that is known to be in development. And it means clinging onto the zero-Covid strategy, which is looking increasingly untenable in a world where Covid has become basically endemic, Thomas said. GDP in the first quarter of this year grew 18.3%; in the EU, it fell 0.6%. I did not imagine that this longer wait would extend until the summer of 2021. All Rights Reserved. The city is now effectively stuck in limbo, backed into a corner by its own policies with no easy path out. For a lot of people, this is starting to go on two years missing grandparents, births, deaths, birthdays, anniversaries, etc, one senior banker in Hong Kong told Reuters. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much Kovrig, an NGO worker and former diplomat, and Spavor, a businessman with a focus on North Korea, were detained following the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver. Though about 63% of the population has been fully vaccinated, many received the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, which has had its efficacy against the highly infectious Delta variant questioned. . Beijing, where top leaders live, is off limits. On Sunday, Zhong Nanshan, one of Chinas top epidemiologists and government advisers, suggested that the country may begin to loosen its COVID-zero restrictions by the end of the year and learn to live with the virusa potential change in tack for a country that has not budged from its mission to eliminate every single case of COVID-19 since the pandemic began. List of countries for which the borders with Estonia are partially or completely open: China brought us papermaking, printing, and, of course, tea. Chinese history has seen many cycles of opening and turning inward. Hong Kong doesnt have any real power to decide upon, he added. The government plans to achieve two negative tests from each person in the entire population of about 240,000 from the local Yantian region, before declaring the crisis over. In order to open its borders, China will first have to vaccinate its population. Headhunters are struggling to attract new talent to Hong Kong, with people looking instead to places with more relaxed rules. I do not think the government will have trouble reaching its targets for vaccination rates. She was thrilled to hear the U.S. is reopening its land crossings to vaccinated travelers. Its bad enough to have to worry youll be jailed in retaliation for whatever critical comments you made even years ago. Tue 1 Jun 2021 09.00 EDT Last modified on Tue 1 Jun 2021 14.36 EDT. Powered and implemented by Interactive Data Managed Solutions. The Chinese government announced on May 31 it would allow married couples to have up to three children, instead of two. A Warner Bros. This means that all Hong Kong residentsexcept for those coming from mainland China, Macau, Taiwan, or New Zealandwill have to spend at least 14 days in quarantine upon arrival regardless of vaccination status. All Rights Reserved. But even the largest such businesses struggle to obtain visas for the families of their expatriate staff. Evergrande is one of Chinas most heavily indebted developers, with borrowings amounting to more than $100 billion by the end of 2020, according to its financial reports. Let them study online, Chinese officials tell diplomats who mention their plight. China is facing a dilemma: how to reopen its borders to foreign visitors - as some other nations are considering doing - while stepping up its. The southern province of Guangdong, hit by a recent virus outbreak, is building a quarantine clinic for international arrivals with 5,000 beds. Among those who replied they would probably or definitely not visit, reasons ranged from previous visa rejections to outright fear of detention for themselves and for the Chinese people they work with or interview, and concerns that restrictions on movement, research, or reporting would compromise the professional value of spending time in China, said ChinaFile, which is published by the Asia Societys Center on US-China Relations. On Tuesday, Lam pointed to economic expansion in the first quarter to argue the city had not suffered badly from the tight restrictions. These travelers are still required to take two PCR tests 24-48 hours before going to China (depending on their departure airport) and a pre-flight antigen test. Amid its COVID-19 vaccine rollout, in June Hong Kong announced that it would reduce hotel quarantine periods to seven days for fully vaccinated travelers, signaling that the city might have been on the way to reopening as an international travel hub. How Will China Open Its Border for International Students in 2022: 5 Possible Ways Date: January 7, 2022 Summary: China has closed its border for international students and almost all foreigners since March 28, 2020 due to the pandemic. But any further opening provokes nervousness. But few data have been released about how Chinese vaccines cope with variants, or how long they work. On the boundary with Canada, cross-border hockey rivalries were community traditions until being upended by the pandemic. The pandemic has sped up those trendsas it has inspired at times nasty anti-Chinese racism abroad. 2. Meanwhile, China has returned to and maintained an essentially pre-Covid state becoming a kind of parallel universe. Measures imposed against outbreaks in places like the eastern Fujian province or southern Guangzhou city have contained the virus, even as Delta has stymied virus response systems in other countries with zero tolerance for infections, like Vietnam and Australia. S&P Index data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. Yet the government has stood firm repeatedly emphasizing that its priority is reopening its border with mainland China, not with the rest of the world. It is not clear how many people were trapped on the subway and rescue efforts remain ongoing across Zhengzhou, a city of 12.6 million on the banks of the Yellow River. Only 36% of people over the age of 60 have gotten one dose, according to government data, which means that a Delta outbreak could prove deadly in Hong Kong. China is basically going to pursue the zero-tolerance strategy for the foreseeable future, which means Hong Kong can either go in opposition (and open internationally) or align with China.. Of course, international travel is important, international business is important to us but by comparison, the mainland is more important.. Updated: 3:23pm, 21 Jun, 2021. . The existing 14-day quarantine will be replaced by a seven plus three program consisting of one week of hotel quarantine plus three days of home observation. All rights reserved. Offers may be subject to change without notice. River Robinson's American partner wasn't able to be in Canada for the birth of their baby boy 17 months ago because of pandemic-related border closures. including those from China or Russia, will not be . The number of international flights has been kept to a handful a week, and as Chinese epidemiologists have acquired more experience of the improbable ways in which Covid is occasionally transmitted, quarantine has become stricter and longer. On a recent domestic flight, Chaguans neighbour pointedly asked to move seats. Vaccinated motorists line up to cross the border at the San Ysidro crossing port on the Mexico-US border in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on November 7, 2021. Reopening with China is the key political and economic priority for the government, says Thomas. You can travel to China without applying a new visa if you qualify for visa-free transit policy. The people who want to open up international travel expats, people with families abroad unfortunately, thats a minority. Last month, online magazine ChinaFile said among 121 China-connected scholars, journalists, former diplomats and civil society workers it surveyed, only 44% said they planned to travel to China once coronavirus restrictions are lifted; 40% said they probably or definitely would not visit, while the rest were unsure. His case suggests that China has no desire to reopen its borders anytime soon, says Thomas. Hong Kongs strict new quarantine rules will effectively close the city off from international travel for the foreseeable future at the same time that other major financial centers like New York, London, and Singapore have been pursuing reopening plans even amid the rise of the highly transmissible Delta variant. Last week, the Biden administration warned American companies about the risk of doing business in Hong Kong, citing Beijings increasing crackdown on the city. The party has several important events it does not want disrupted by covid-19 outbreaks. The more the better: China said on Tuesday it would allow tax deductions for expenses on children under 3 years old, and strictly regulate the after-school tutoring sector, as part of its efforts to raise the countrys plunging birthrates by encouraging couples to have more children. Official media published a story by a former health minister (whose background is in finance) expressing astonishment at the idea of easing controls. This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline "Turning inward", Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents, Under Xi Jinping, he has had little chance to shine, But Chinas leaders are treading carefully for now, The countrys government is organised in a way that could help, Published since September 1843 to take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.. China won't open up after lockdown anytime soon 26 September 2021 Author: Nicholas Thomas, CityU What is normal in a post-pandemic world? China is the last large country in the world with a zero-covid policy. Those failing the checks will be sent to government facilities. However, the Omicron variant has proven challenging, and the government is still pursuing a zero Covid strategy. Copyright The Economist Newspaper Limited 2023. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much Its been four months since Kovrig and Spavor were tried behind closed doors and 953 days since they were detained, but Beijing has not released any news on either of the men. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice| Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information| Ad Choices Editors Note: A version of this story appeared in CNNs Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the countrys rise and how it impacts the world. But quite a few have also had enough. The bottom line is that businesses should be aware that the risks faced in mainland China are now increasingly present in Hong Kong, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. After being closed for three years, China will reopen its borders on January 8, 2023, and will eliminate the mandatory quarantine requirement for entry into the country, according to reports from the South China Morning Post. IN JUNE 2021 one of Chinas most respected scientists tentatively suggested that the country might want to begin relaxing its zero-covid policy in 2022. The government will have to convince people that they have to and can live with Covid. All our stories relating to the pandemic and the vaccines can be found on our coronavirus hub. Zhong did not say how quickly China may reopen once reaching the 80%85% vaccination coverage, but he estimated that at Chinas current pace, over 80% of the population would be fully vaccinated by the end of this year. These travelers will be permitted to visit specific sites as part of group tours, not on individual itineraries. Beijing has charged them with espionage, but most outside of China see their detention as retaliation for Mengs arrest and a bargaining chip to help leverage her release. Lams comments illustrate just how closely Hong Kongs government has tied its Covid strategy with China not surprising for a Chinese territory but a further sign of Hong Kongs deteriorating reputation as an international hub. 2. Those foreign airlines allowed to operate limited flights into China are often running at 10% of pre-pandemic capacity. The vaccination campaign initially targeted key workers and those with a high chance of being exposed to or transmitting the virus. All of the bodies recovered were taken from the citys subway system, according to authorities. could be sentient says Microsofts chatbot feels like watching the A cruise company is making a big play for remote workers to sail around the world for just $30,000 a year, CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. China has reported 2.7 million cases and 15,133 deaths as of September 21, 2022. Like elsewhere, the pandemic has changed China in many ways some of which might add to the concerns of foreigners who plan to visit. When the virus does manage to seep into the country, Chinas government deploys neighborhood- or citywide lockdowns, mass testing, and intensive contact-tracing measures to find infections and halt outbreaks. In March 2020, I wrote that life was returning to normal in China, but that other countries faced a longer wait. Shanghai's neon skyline is one of China's modern wonders. The fired Google engineer who thought its A.I. China is building a wall (or fortified fence) along its border with Myanmar (Asia Times, 19 December 2020). All rights reserved. Your browser does not support the