- Covid: travel to China virtually impossible
- Bumpy start for 17+1 casts shadow over China’s efforts in Europe
- Bytedance launches Douyin Pay
- Covid 19 origin: lab accident extremely unlikely
- Birth rate plummets by 15 percent
- Jimmy Lai remains in custody
- Christine Loh: China’s climate plan must become concrete
Bad times for Europe: First, the Russian government snubs Brussels while Foreign Affairs Commissioner Borrell is in Moscow. Now Beijing takes advantage of the EU Commission’s bad image when it comes to procuring vaccines for its member countries. Far away from any diplomatic custom, head of state Xi Jinping chaired Tuesday’s meeting with Eastern and Central European states in the 17+1 format himself – and put cooperation on Covid vaccine procurement at the center. The message to Brussels couldn’t be more painful: We will mercilessly exploit your weakness. Amelie Richter has the details.
Traveling to China on business in these Covid times is bordering on a hurdle race. Foreign entrepreneurs, but not only them, can tell a thing or two about it. Christiane Kuehl gets to the bottom of the problems.
I assume that you are also already preparing for the upcoming New Year and, as a China connoisseur, naturally know how much goes into the red envelopes and what delicacy you are preparing for your guests. You would like to have a late tip? Tomorrow, the China.Table team will bring you exciting, interesting and delicious information about the New Year.
Antje Sirleschtov
Feature
Travel for foreigners: virtually impossible
China’s borders are virtually closed. There are hardly any international flights, and getting a visa has never been so difficult. Anyone arriving in China must spend at least two weeks in quarantine – in Beijing and the southern province of Guangdong currently even three to four weeks. Several Covid tests before and after arrival are mandatory. The travel restrictions curb travel.
Hardly any country has restricted entry as much as China in the wake of the Covid crisis. This enabled the country to largely ward off the second wave of the pandemic. Within the country, new infections are low and people enjoy much greater freedom of movement than we do in Europe. For German companies, the entry restrictions are a major problem.
Travel restrictions as the biggest Covid problem
For 74 percent of companies, travel restrictions are the biggest challenge posed by the virus, according to a survey by the German Chamber of Commerce in China (AHK). “Only” 49 percent, on the other hand, see falling demand for their products and services as a problem. The largely closed border is particularly problematic for small and medium-sized enterprises, according to Andreas Glunz, Managing Partner at KMPG, which organized and evaluated the survey with the AHK.
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