A
Chinese tourist information clerk wears a protective mask as she works
in a kiosk in the arrivals area at Beijing Capital International Airport
on March 24, 2020 in Beijing, China.
Hong Kong (CNN)China is closing its border to most foreigners amid fears of imported novel coronavirus cases causing a second outbreak in the country where the infection was first detected.
In a statement late Thursday,
the government said that "in view of the rapid spread of Covid-19
across the world, China has decided to temporarily suspend the entry
into China by foreign nationals holding visas or residence permits" as
of March 28.
Anyone
wishing to enter the country will have to apply for a new visa at their
local Chinese embassy or consulate. The announcement did not say how
long this would take.
The
decision to effectively seal off the country to foreigners is the
latest in a series of moves intended to safeguard against infection from
international travel, after more than 500 imported cases of the
coronavirus were confirmed.
On Monday, Beijing city authorities announced that all international arrivals would be quarantined and tested for the virus at designated government facilities. Other cities have implemented stringent home quarantine requirements on international arrivals. Last week, a Chinese Australian woman was deported after neighbors recorded her breaching isolation controls to go jogging.
The
number of new domestic infections has slowed to a trickle in recent
weeks. While Wuhan, the city previously at the epicenter of the
outbreak, remains on lockdown, much of the rest of the country is
returning to normal.
There are fears imported cases could lead to a renewed outbreak.
Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese city, already had to backtrack on relaxing restrictions after a spike in new infections, many of which were imported by international travelers.
Staff wear protective masks and visors as they walk in the arrivals area at Beijing Capital International Airport on March 24.
No 'foreign friends'
Across
China, reports have appeared in recent days of businesses banning
foreign nationals from entering their premises. Accounts have even
emerged of housing estates and office complexes barring non-Chinese from the premises.
All
of that is despite the fact 90% of imported cases are linked to Chinese
citizens returning from overseas, particularly the hundreds of
thousands of students forced home by university closures.
While the backlash against foreigners in China has not reached anything near the level of violence and open racism experienced by many Asians
living in parts of Europe and the US, it appears to be part of a
broader rise in xenophobia, seen in a number of Asian countries battling
the outbreak.
Elizabeth Rodewald,
an American working in Beijing, said she was stopped by her security
guard from entering her own home this week. She said the guard asked if
she was Russian and refused to let her pass even after she showed her
residential ID card, even though Chinese residents continued to enter
freely. She said she had to wait for the manager to arrive before she
could go in.
At a Beijing gym
popular with expats, managers posted a sign saying "foreign friends"
would no longer be allowed to enter, "because of (the) overseas epidemic
threshold." CNN also saw doormen at a bar in Sanlitun, a popular
Beijing nightlife area, refusing entry to non-Chinese-looking patrons.
These restrictions are not government backed and enforcement of them appears to not be rigorous.
At
the bar in Sanlitun, for example, security staff did not check IDs, so
ethnically Chinese foreign residents could enter. Jim Boyce, a Beijing
resident who posted on Twitter
about restrictions on foreigners, said that one barber shop which put
up a sign barring non-Chinese still allowed at least one expat to get
his hair cut there.
Some
900,000 foreigners live in China, according to state media, with the
largest non-Chinese population in Shanghai. While the government has
gradually made it easier for foreigners to apply for permanent
residency, as it attempts to attract more overseas talent and
investment, the number of foreigners who gain this status is still
exceptionally small.
In 2010, when
the last census was carried out, there were just 1,448 naturalized
citizens in China, a nation of over 1.3 billion people.
