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MANILA – China is easing border restrictions to allow travelers from the Philippines, Indonesia and other places outside of Southeast Asia to enter again, provided they have taken Chinese-made Covid-19 vaccines.
“This has nothing to do with the recognition of Chinese vaccines,” Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told reporters on Tuesday (March 16).
He said the new rules for foreigners who had been inoculated with any of the four vaccines produced in China “are based on full consideration of the medical safety and efficacy of these vaccines.”
Chinese embassies in the Philippines, Indonesia, the United States, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Italy have issued notices saying China will open visa applications for those who have had the blows done by China at least 14 days before applying for a visa.
This will apply from this week to those who visit mainland China to resume work, do business or for “humanitarian needs” such as reuniting with family members.
Those arriving in China still face a quarantine of up to three weeks.
Richard Heydarian, a Manila-based political analyst and author, said: “China is really upping its game and trying to make sure that more and more countries are reliant on its vaccines, even though their effectiveness, prices and overall pedigree are so much Taller”. questionable than for the other vaccines available.
“This is the next phase of their vaccine diplomacy, which so far has been a huge failure in places like the Philippines,” he said.
He added that China’s latest move appeared to be a response to an announcement by the US, India, Australia and Japan to pool financing, manufacturing and distribution capacity to ship one billion doses of coronavirus vaccines to Asia for late 2022.
China has struggled to gain international trust for its vaccines, hampered by a lack of transparency in test results. Still, this facilitation of travel access to China has been welcomed by nations that have to rely on vaccines from China to prop up their inoculation campaigns.
“This is good news,” said Carlito Gálvez, the “vaccine czar” of the Philippines. But the Philippines still cannot reciprocate and lift travel restrictions for those coming from China, even if they have already been vaccinated, he added.
Tjoe Sugiharto, general secretary of the China committee of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, described China’s new travel rule as a “positive development.”
He said that trade between China and Indonesia had been reduced due to travel restrictions. “Hopefully trading can pick up and get back to normal,” he said.
Both the Philippines and Indonesia rely on large shipments of vaccines made by China’s Sinovac and Sinopharm to keep their vaccination programs running.
The Philippines received some 600,000 doses of Sinovac last month. He expects to receive more than 20 million doses by the end of the year. It is also scheduled to grant emergency use authorization for the Sinopharm vaccine.
Indonesia began its mass vaccination campaign in January, aiming to inoculate 181.5 million people in 15 months. Sinovac supplies most of the doses. Indonesia is also securing hits from Sinopharm.
Malaysia is not so dependent on vaccines from China. It has ordered doses of Sinovac for only 18 percent of its population. However, China’s “vaccine diplomacy” appears to be having some positive effect there.
Housewife Chung Su Lian, 55, said: “I have no plans to travel to China in the near future, but I was hoping to get the Sinovac vaccine because it uses a proven technique of obtaining vaccines.”
But he added: “Malaysians cannot choose which vaccine we get, and we cannot buy them either.”
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