The European Union and China are moving closer to a political standoff over the Covid-19 crisis, with Beijing rejecting travel restrictions some EU nations have started to impose that could be expanded in coming days.
An EU offer of help, including vaccine donations, was as good as slapped down with Beijing insisting the situation was “under control” and medical provisions “in adequate supply”, government spokesperson Mao Ning said.
As the 27-nation bloc moved closer to imposing restrictions on travellers from China, Beijing laid out what to expect in return.
“We are firmly opposed to attempts to manipulate the Covid measures for political purposes and will take counter-measures based on the principle of reciprocity,” Ms Mao said.
“Travellers from China need to be prepared for decisions being taken at short notice,” warned Sweden, which holds the EU presidency.
Several EU nations have announced individual efforts over the past week, although the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control insisted the situation in China does not pose an immediate overall health threat.
The #SARSCov2 variants circulating in China are already circulating in the EU, and as such are not challenging for the immune response of EU/EEA citizens. In addition, EU/EEA citizens have relatively high immunisation and vaccination levels. pic.twitter.com/Ja3DOpanKW
— ECDC (@ECDC_EU) January 3, 2023
“The variants circulating in China are already circulating in the EU, and as such are not challenging for the immune response” of EU citizens, it said in its latest impact study.
Other scientists have also said limits on travel would have little impact on containing the disease, but they insisted on the value of looking for potential variants not in Europe at the moment.
However, fearful not to be caught unawares like at the outset of the global pandemic in early 2020, medical experts from EU member states were already preparing potential action to be taken up an Integrated Political Crisis Response meeting on Wednesday, where measures like EU-wide entry requirements could be decided.
Over the past week, EU nations reacted with a series of national measures to the crisis in China, disregarding an earlier commitment to act in unity.
Italy was the first EU member to require coronavirus tests for airline passengers arriving from China, but several others have said such measures might not be the best option to protect local populations as new variants coming from China have already been in Europe, often for many months.
France, Spain and Italy have already announced plans to implement tougher Covid-19 rules for passengers arriving from China.
France’s government is requiring negative tests, and is urging French citizens to avoid non-essential travel to China. France is also reintroducing mask requirements on flights from China to France.
Spain’s government said it would require all air passengers arriving from China to have negative tests or proof of vaccination.
The US announced new Covid-19 testing requirements on Wednesday for all travellers from China, joining some Asian nations that imposed restrictions because of a surge of infections.
