China yesterday opened its borders for foreign students for the first time in more than two years, easing restrictions on their entry imposed in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Foreign nationals holding a Chinese residence permit for study or an APEC business travel card would be allowed to enter the country, the Chinese embassy in the US said in a statement on WeChat on Tuesday.
Similar statements were made by the Chinese embassies in Japan and India.
Photo: Bloomberg
While the country has been allowing some students to enter on an ad-hoc basis for some time, the move shows that Beijing is attempting to normalize aspects of the economy — while holding fast to its “zero COVID-19” approach.
Anyone entering China still faces one of the most intensive pandemic border regimes globally, with mandatory traveler quarantines still in place.
Allowing international students to return does not mean China has relaxed its strict pandemic control measures or that the government has abandoned its dynamic “zero COVID-19” policy, the state-run Global Times reported.
Lu Hongzhou (盧洪洲), a health commentator and president of the Third People’s Hospital in Shenzhen, said further shortening the quarantine period for inbound travelers in the short term is unlikely, the report added.
China still has the world’s toughest entry requirements, even after easing quarantine rules in June. Arriving travelers need to spend seven days in an isolation facility and then monitor their health at home for a further three days. Flights to the country are also limited.
The country welcomed 492,185 foreign students in 2018, low compared with the more than 1 million enrolled in the 2019-2020 academic year in the US, where international education is a significant industry.
Most of China’s students came from South Korea, followed by Thailand and Pakistan.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in