China ready for Russian travellers as ‘full victory’ over Covid-19 dawns, top envoy says

Beijing’s envoy to Moscow says China is ready to restore “mutual travel” with Russia as its “victory” over Covid-19 is in sight.

Chinese ambassador Zhang Hanhui told Russian state media that China was ready to resume travel between the countries “as soon as possible” as a “full victory over the pandemic is dawning”.

The comments, published by Russian news agency Tass on Wednesday, came as China reopened its borders and pushed back against countries that have imposed pandemic-related travel curbs on its citizens.

China likely to retaliate against more countries over Covid travel curbs

According to researchers and health officials, Covid-19 infections in many Chinese cities have already peaked.

Zhang said China’s Covid-19 measures were “scientifically proven, timely and necessary” and that “we are convinced that China’s optimised anti-coronavirus policies have good prospects”.

“Judging by the development of the epidemiological situation in China, one may conclude that it has always been predictable and controllable, and it will remain this way,” he said.

China is ready to “continuously deepen diverse strategic cooperation” with Russia and “restore mutual travel of citizens as soon as possible” under “the new historical situation”, he said.

Zhang also hailed Russia’s support for China throughout the pandemic and pledged that their countries would continue to stand together against Western “hegemony”.

“In the face of politicisation and stigmatisation by some Western countries, China and Russia have joined forces to deal with the political virus and threat of hegemony, defend the authority of the World Health Organization and build a fortress via trust and cooperation that no lies can break,” he said.

China abandoned its zero-Covid policy in December, lifting travel restrictions for both domestic and international passengers.

While the move was generally welcomed by the international business community, some countries have announced restrictions on arrivals from China, citing concerns over the country’s recent Covid-19 surge, a lack of data transparency and potential for new variants.

Beijing has pushed back, saying it has shared Covid-19 data with the international community since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. China has called travel curbs against its citizens “discriminatory” while defending its Covid-19 measures as “scientific”.

On Tuesday, China made good on its promise to retaliate against countries with travel restrictions by suspending short-term visas for Japanese and Korean travellers. Beijing doubled down on Wednesday by suspending visa-free transit policies for travellers from both countries.

South Korea announced last week it would suspend issuing short-term visas to Chinese travellers until January 31 and require them to present a negative Covid-19 test upon arrival, a measure also adopted by dozens of other countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, Japan and India.

On December 30, Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that China was willing to resume personnel exchanges with other countries, including Russia, in an “orderly” manner.

China-Russia trade keeps breaking records, but these hurdles still suppress it

Russia, which has not imposed restrictions on Chinese travellers, was among the most desired destinations for Chinese tourists, according to a 2022 McKinsey survey.

Over a million Russian tourists visited China in the first half of 2019, according to a report by the China Tourism Academy.

Zhang said a US$200 billion target for China-Russia bilateral trade, which was expected to be reached by 2024, might be achieved earlier than projected. Bilateral trade for 2022 is expected to hit a record high of more than US$180 billion.

While many countries have imposed sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, Russia maintains robust trade ties with China. It is now China’s second biggest supplier of pipeline gas and its fourth biggest provider of liquefied natural gas.