It’s a nine-hour flight to China – and yet the People’s Republic was practically inaccessible for almost three years. Unacceptable quarantine rules and considerable restrictions on air travel brought exchanges to a standstill. Important business trips had to be canceled, as did private visits. On Monday, this period ends – travel restrictions will be lifted. Germany and other European countries take small steps in the other direction, requiring travelers from China to present a negative Covid test. Currently, both sides have met in the middle with the simple mandatory testing rule. We have summarized the current regulations for you today.
President Marcos Jr, the new President of the Philippines, is a sought-after man – at least politically. The United States and China consider the Philippines strategically important and want to strengthen relations. The US values the Philippines as an important partner in the Indo-Pacific and, as a former colonial power, exercises a kind of patronage. The status between Manila and Beijing, on the other hand, is highly ambivalent. Disputes over maritime territorial claims coexist with the island nation’s hopes for infrastructure investment and increased trade with the People’s Republic. This week, Marcos Jr. traveled to Beijing. Christiane Kuehl reports on his quest for a profitable balance.
Only the Bible sold more copies: Mao’s Little Red Book was printed more than a billion times. This not only caused an enormous consumption of paper, but also royalties in the millions, which flowed into Mao’s pockets. Xi Jinping, meanwhile, is well on his way to financially surpassing the Great Chairman’s literary achievements. Although China’s party and state leader officially has to make do with a meager salary, he publishes a steady stream of publications and receives a handsome amount of royalties for them. With 96 million party members, he is sure to have customers – whether they read his works or throw them away. Johnny Erling has taken a look around the world of profitable propaganda texts.
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Julia Fiedler
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Germany introduces mandatory testing
A Chinese tourist arriving in Paris.
Starting Monday, China lifts the agonizing entry quarantine. At the same time, Germany follows the EU recommendation and introduces mandatory testing. However, a large, mutual travel wave is not yet foreseeable. In Western countries, the fear of dangerous mutations is spreading.
On Thursday, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach announced the introduction of mandatory testing for travelers from China. To this end, he had the German entry regulation amended on short notice. All inbound travelers from China will have to present at least one rapid test in order to be allowed into the country. In addition, there will be additional wastewater controls for Aircraft from China, announced Lauterbach. The EU Commission’s Integrated Political Crisis Response (IPCR) recommended mandatory testing on Wednesday evening (China.Table reported).
The concern is not bringing the virus into the country, but the emergence of new variants. With Omicron, the same pathogen has been circulating in China to which the German population has already built up good immunity. So, for the time being, there is nothing to fear from carriers from China that is not already present in Germany. But the infection numbers in China are astronomically high. And where there is a high virus concentration, there will be many mutations. Sorting out sick travelers is intended to give the authorities more time in case a new variant emerges. Nevertheless, China considers tests for its own citizens “unacceptable”.
The infection wave is far from over
Even though the wave supposedly subsided by now, the virus is still very active in China. Hospitals are over capacity, even in the well-equipped capital of Beijing: Patients have to lay and sit in the corridors, and oxygen is in short supply. The World Health Organization now openly criticizes China for its lack of transparency. The data that the country still provides is not enough to get a picture of the situation, it argues.
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