Are the recent restrictions placed upon travelers from China a necessary and reasonable precaution, or are they unfair political manipulation and prejudicial smears, as China claims?
Hospitals filled with patients as 70% of the population in Shanghai became victims of COVID in a few weeks, according to French news organization France24. Something that you might only hear in movies is happening previously in China. As the Chinese government altered its “zero COVID policy”, the citizens quickly applied for their freedom. The streets that were once almost empty and unoccupied, were flooded with people. As the existence of face masks practically disappeared, the rise of COVID victims spread rapidly from city to city. Due to the COVID problem China was having, some Western countries had decided to activate travel restrictions for travelers from China. They informed that travelers from China must offer their 48-hour COVID certificate. This news upset the Chinese government as they believed the restrictions were political smears targeted at China. However, when one looks at the facts surrounding the situation and the accusations, the restrictions placed on travelers from China are necessary and justified.
The first reason why restrictions are necessary is that loosening restrictions on China could lead to massive growth in COVID cases around the world. China’s current regime unleashed civilians from their houses, motivating increased human interactions. As society is on its way to returning to the norm, COVID cases continued to rapidly increase, as expected. Loosening travel restrictions towards China would most likely lead to a massive spread of COVID to other countries. This phenomenon is due to three main reasons. First, the increase of COVID cases in China that are clearly taking place. Second, the different vaccines used by China and other countries may lead to different rates of protection. Finally, the massive increase in circumstances where people are infected with the virus at different stages of development might lead to different COVID variants.
As previously mentioned, the increase in COVID cases in China might cause the global pandemic to happen again. According to German news source DW news, “Travelers from China are flooding to other countries as China completely removed its COVID restrictions on their civilians. Additionally, according to a legitimate news source in China, a vast amount of the Chinese population has become victims of COVID in the past 3 weeks.” The massive increase of the infected population has caused a government frenzy, although the outcome was expected. DW news also reported that the Phenomenon of COVID cases has led to local hospitals being overwhelmed by COVID patients. The hospitals are so overcrowded that most citizens stay home and apply for their own medicine online after being confirmed for COVID. This situation will likely continue, as there is now nothing currently preventing COVID from spreading throughout China.
However, from the perspective of r other countries, the right to protect their citizens from getting COVID again is a priority. In the past few months, most European countries have emerged from the shadow of the pandemic, and begun returning to their pre-COVID norms. The sudden event happening in China could potentially have a direct influence and disturbance on other countries’ peace. In other words, without travel restrictions being placed on China, other countries’ COVID cases may begin to once again grow exponentially causing irreversible destruction on all post-pandemic progress. One of the most significant reasons the spread of COVID from China to the West could have such damaging effects is that China uses different vaccines than the rest of the world. China’s government motivated its citizens towards usage of the Chinese-made vaccine against COVID, the Sinovac Vaccine, which is validated by the World Health Organization (WHO). The difference between the Sinovac vaccine and other European-approved vaccines, such as Pfizer and Moderna, is that Sinovac used an inactivated form of the virus, while other vaccines used mRNA technology. While Sinovac has been proven to lower the risk of contracting COVID, there have yet to be any studies about the side effects of the vaccine and no research regarding the effects of two vaccines. Therefore, as it was a possibility that the Sinovac vaccine was not fully effective,, it made perfect sense for governments to want to protect their citizens and apply justified restrictions to travelers from China.
Another cause for concern regarding the mass victims of COVID in China was the possibility of new variants the world has never seen. Research has shown that a new possible variant requires stages of vaccine to fight through, to enhance the virus. During the zero COVID policy in China, the virus barely had any chance to strengthen itself. As the virus meets a new population that shares many vaccines, it would be easy for the virus to develop an undiscovered variant, and one that the current vaccines could not stop. The rising COVID population happening in China is something that the world cannot not deny, and the possible consequences are creating widespread panic and terror. Therefore, the argument for tightening restrictions against travelers from China is justified, as they could cause a continuation of the global pandemic.
Upon understanding that the restrictions are justified, one can clearly discern that the claims of prejudicial smears are unfounded as well. China’s complaints are heard, but at the same time, the Chinese government has been doing the equivalent things as other countries. This contradiction demonstrates the broader issue of China’s double standards when it comes to diplomatic problems and proves that the travel restrictions are not a political smear. Western countries are making travel restrictions against Chinese travelers, but not creating outright bans as China had done during the height of the pandemic. All these countries asked is that the travelers from China show their 48-hour COVID certificate results. This is completely justified, as diseases are spread by people-to-people contact.
China’s reaction to this is to cry foul against these restrictions. China’s government announced that the travel restrictions are political smears and specifically targeting China. “Countries around the world go through a period of adaptation when adjusting their epidemic prevention policies, and China’s shift is no exception,” a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang Wenbin, announced. What Wenbin stated is factual, but it does not apply to China’s situation. All the countries that have been COVID free have their “period of adaptation” at approximately the same time. During that period when other countries were in their state of adaptation, China was still in their “zero COVID policy.” However, many countries had previously told the Chinese government to dismantle its regime and enter the period of adaptation as others were doing. This leads to a situation where other countries have already passed the adaptation stage and are evolving past the pandemic. At the same time, China just released its citizens and increased the COVID infection rate by a vast amount. Therefore, due to interests of self-preservation, other countries setting up reasonable COVID restrictions on travelers coming from China is justifiedMany in China believe the 48-hour COVID certificate is not necessary, often ignoring the fact that China was doing the exact same thing not too long away. As China abolished its zero COVID policy, it lowered but did not completely remove China’s traveling restrictions. During the times of zero COVID policy, it was mandatory for travelers to China to have a 2-week quarantine in a hotel where COVID tests were administered every week. Now, as the new regime operates, travelers to China still need to offer their 48 hours COVID. This is contradictory, as China believes the other countries doing the exact same thing are political smears and manipulations. This contradiction amplifies the double standard held by the Chinese government. Restrictions on travelers from China are justified as even the Chinese government is doing it to protect their citizens.
To conclude, the West’s act of placing a travel restriction on travelers from China is justified and should not be seen as political manipulation, based upon the possibility of the continuation of the global pandemic (shown by authoritative sources). The fact that China’s so-called political smears are unfounded has also been proven. These ideas are supported by logical concepts and reliable statistics. The sparks between the West and China due to this conflict could make one wonder if this situation is really about the restrictions on the global pandemic or actually centers around reducing each other’s credibility; the countries are already involved in an ongoing political struggle.
Bibliography:
France24, “Up to 70% of Shanghai population infected with COVID: top doctor,” France24.https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230103-up-to-70-of-shanghai-population-infected-with-COVID-top-doctor. (Accessed February 21, 2023.)
RTVE, “España exige el certificado COVID en origen a los viajeros procedentes de China,” RTVEhttps://www.rtve.es/noticias/20230104/espana-certificado-vacunacion-coronavirus-China/2413688.shtml. (Accessed February 21, 2023.)
DW news, “Growing number of countries require COVID tests from Chinese travelers | DW,” DW news.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM_rbLCOIIU. (Accessed February 23, 2023.)
Raffles Hospital, “What are the differences between Sinovac and mRNA vaccines?,” Rafflesmedicalgroup https://www.rafflesmedicalgroup.com/health-resources/health-articles/what-are-the-differences-between-sinovac-and-mrna-vaccines/#:~:text=What%20is%20Sinovac%3F,that%20Pfizer%20and%20Moderna%20use. (Accessed February 23, 2023.)
Dr. John Campbell “China, mass infections,” Dr. John Campbellhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYrFU6QnhBE. (Accessed February 23, 2023.)
Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun, “Full of prejudice, political manipulation,’ FM criticizes Western media smears on China’s epidemic policy shift” people’s daily. http://en.people.cn/n3/2022/1229/c90000-10189928.html. (Accessed Feb 23, 2023.)
Very interesting article. Good job looking at both sides.