China's border controls may ease in June

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

China is likely to gradually ease its border controls after the two sessions, the nation's most important annual political event, which is scheduled to kick off on May 21 and it will last one week.

Easing the controls will facilitate the resumption of international exchanges, as the COVID-19 pandemic has been basically brought under control in China and some other countries such as South Korea, the experts reckoned.

"China may relax border controls gradually after the two sessions or in early June," Wang Hongwei, a professor at Renmin University of China's School of Public Administration and Policy in Beijing, told the Global Times. 

"The Chinese students studying abroad who have graduated, important business leaders and much-needed production technicians, could get priority to return to China," Wang noted. 

Zhou Zijun, a public health expert at Peking University, stated that as the epidemic has ebbed in China and medical testing ability has improved, it's time to lift restrictions on some business travel. 

"China can now properly handle a small level of imported cases. China is unlikely to allow a large number of ordinary tourists to enter or exit in a short time," Zhou added. 

Both the experts remained cautious about opening up normal international travel due to fears of another spike in infections. 

An insider with the state aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Administration of China, revealed that the agency hasn't received confirmation on the resumption of international flights. 

The Japanese newspaper, Yomiuri, had earlier reported that China and South Korea had consulted Japan about easing their border controls on business travelers.

Such a move has been already implemented between China and South Korea as the two countries, on May 1, became the first in the world to open an express channel for business executives who test negative for the coronavirus before departure and after arrival in order to facilitate the movement of important products and raw materials, reports said. 

Zhou felt that lifting border restrictions means the authorities should first assess the risks of the epidemic in the departure and destination countries. 

The move between China and South Korea is reasonable and practical to resume business activities, as well as production and work, on the premise of epidemic prevention and control, Zhou noted. 

The Shanghai-based news website ThePaper.cn carried an story indicating that international airlines were planning to increase flights to China in June as the public looked forward to a gradual relaxation of travel restrictions due to the outbreak. 

According to the report, South Korea's Asiana Airlines planned to resume 12 routes to China in June while Korean Air was making preparations to restart flights to the country. Also, Qatar Airways said it expected to serve passengers flying to Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai by the end of June and Turkish Airlines planned to resume flights to Shanghai in June. 

The border lockdown is a temporary emergency measure in response to the pandemic, and it won't last long as cases of the virus tail off in some countries, Wang said, noting that in the era of economic globalization, easing the restrictions can help revive business activity. 

At the same time, Wang explained that easing the epidemic control should be carried out step by step, along with improving medical testing and quarantine ability. 

Mi Feng, spokesperson for the National Health Commission, disclosed that more than 100,000 new cases were confirmed in a single day on May 17 for the first time, bringing the total number to more than 4.52 million worldwide. 

He said that China will conduct test all inbound and outbound passengers and staff participating in immigration and transshipment work, strengthen closed-loop management and prevent local outbreaks from imported cases.