The border between Hong Kong and China is set to “fully reopen” early next month for the first time in three years, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported, as the Chinese Communist Party rolls back COVID-19 restrictions to bolster its faltering economy.
Preparations are being made for the reopening of the border, including sending thousands of customs, immigration and police officers to land checkpoints to handle the expected crowds, the SCMP reported.
Hong Kong is preparing to resume its high-speed rail services with China, Hong Kong Undersecretary for Transport and Logistics Liu Chun-san (廖振新) said at a news briefing.
Photo: Reuters
Beijing is keen to restore travel by early next month to revive the economies of Hong Kong and China, the SCMP said, citing a person familiar with the plan.
Data released on Thursday showed China’s economic activity weakened sharply last month before the government abruptly dropped its “zero COVID” policy.
Publicly, Hong Kong officials have taken a more cautious approach to the border reopening.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee (李家超) said on Thursday that it was “highly possible” to lift border controls next year, adding that it could include a step-by-step restoration of exchanges with neighboring Shenzhen.
Under China’s rules, visitors from Hong Kong are limited by a daily quota, while they also have to undergo five days of hotel quarantine. Chinese visitors also have to quarantine on their return.
The SCMP report did not make it clear whether international travelers would be able to freely enter China via Hong Kong. Most of Hong Kong’s border checkpoints have been closed since early 2020.
Hong Kong could see an estimated 7.6 percent boost to its GDP from China’s reopening, Goldman Sachs Group Inc economists said on Monday.
The local economy is projected to have contracted this year for the third time in four years.
The territory hosted about 44 million arrivals from China in 2019.
That Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has changed his mind on “zero COVID,” officials can work fast to revive the economy, said Dongshu Liu, an assistant professor specializing in Chinese politics at the City University of Hong Kong.
“The social and economic pressure is huge on both sides, resuming travel is something very urgent for them,” he said.
The city scrapped some of its remaining COVID-19 restrictions on Tuesday, including a ban on new arrivals going to bars or restaurants, and ending a policy requiring people to scan a QR code when entering venues.
Hong Kong still requires masks to be worn in public.
The speed at which China has shifted its attitude to COVID has taken the territory by surprise.
Chinese epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan (鍾南山) in a university lecture likened the virus to the common cold, saying the fatality rate of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 is only 0.1 percent.
Hong Kong’s healthcare system was overwhelmed when Omicron started spreading in the territory early this year, causing thousands of deaths, many of them unvaccinated elderly people.
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