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As I see it | China shouldn’t blame countries for imposing Covid-19 tests to keep their citizens safe
- Beijing has lashed out at countries imposing Covid-19 test on Chinese visitors, calling it ‘discriminatory’, and amounting to ‘political manipulation’
- But the World Health Organization has called the measures ‘understandable’, urging Beijing to share more data on the state of the pandemic in China
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Beijing’s suggestion that travel restrictions imposed by several countries on Chinese arrivals are politically motivated, and even discriminatory, is somewhat misplaced.
For these countries, some of which have good relations with China, the underlying principle is simply that it is better to be safe than sorry.
After China last month allowed outbound travel for its citizens, several countries said travellers from China must present a negative Covid-19 test taken within the previous 48 hours, and be subject to random testing on arrival.
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This prompted Beijing to lash out, calling the restrictions “discriminatory”, amounting to “political manipulation” and not “science-based”.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on Tuesday called the measures “disproportionate and simply unacceptable”, even threatening retaliation.
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