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Kinling Lo

Top diplomatic envoys have called on Beijing to ease travel restrictions and increase transparency as countries assess China’s post-pandemic role in global trade reforms.
The calls were delivered at a Beijing forum on Friday amid international concerns over severe supply chain and trade disruptions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
China, which has adopted strict border controls, has been facing calls from its counterparts to open up the country further, despite Beijing’s repeated assurances that it would do so.
Embassies in Beijing have also voiced concerns about the hundreds of thousands of foreign students who have not been allowed to return to China because they cannot get visas.
Coronavirus: how China’s closed borders have hit trade and diplomacy
Swiss ambassador to Beijing Bernardino Regazzoni said travel restrictions applied by China were a source of concern.
“All the approval procedures are delayed or completely halted,” Regazzoni said at the forum organised by the Centre for China and Globalisation.
“Recruitment ... is compromised, getting visas for expats or students is a headache, whereas visas for Chinese students to Switzerland have not been reduced during and after the pandemic.”
On trade, he said his country had reported some positive results from a bilateral free-trade agreement signed with China in 2014, but market restrictions, barriers on investment and rapid changes in the regulatory environment posed difficulties for foreign companies.
“Day-by-day reality, in perspective, has appeared less rosy,” he said.

Addressing the forum, Indian ambassador Vikram Misri stressed on the importance of building trust among countries as the world trend towards “decentralisation of globalisation”.
“[We] should learn to live with the world as it is now,” Misri said.
“We need a more sustainable path in addressing current realities and facing up to the future that is not dependent on repetitive and massive lockdowns, crushing travel restrictions that have impacted students particularly badly, and an intense undercurrent of suspicion about everything.
“This will require trust and international cooperation on an unprecedented scale, because no one has a capacity no matter how large to address the problem in its entirety.”

China is also under pressure from the European Union, Japan and the United States as they push for stronger rules on industrial subsidies at the WTO and more transparency on the role state-owned enterprises play in economies, moves seen as targeting “unfair trade practices” by China.
Brazilian ambassador Paulo Estivallet de Mesquita said it was important for China to promote multilateralism.
He said the phase one trade deal struck between Beijing and Washington in January last year was “not really in accordance with multilateral trade rules”, and his country was concerned about the impacts of this on the future of the trade system.
“It is interesting to know that China, as the ascending power, has been very conservative in its approach to reform multilateral trade rules. We have this stereotype that the status quo power is the revisionist one and the descending powers are the conservative ones,” he said.
“China of course has a case to make, a reason to be sceptical of the multilateral trade system. But I think scepticism can be self [fulfilling]. China, like everybody else, will lose if we have to deal with the decline of multilateralism,” he said.
The South China Morning Post is a media partner for the forum.


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Coronavirus pandemic

Top diplomats call on China to ease coronavirus travel curbs

The international community has raised concerns over severe supply chain and trade disruptions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: DPA

=== PHOTO CAPTURED FROM WEIBO === Image of Indian Ambassador Vikram Misri. WEIBO

=== PHOTO CAPTURED FROM WEIBO === Image of Ambassador from Switzerland Bernardino Regazzoni. WEIBO

Watch live: Beijing forum probes China’s role in post-pandemic world

Former Chinese commerce minister Chen Deming is keynote speaker for the China and Globalisation Forum taking place in Beijing on Friday morning and live-streamed by the South China Morning Post. Photo: Xinhua

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Tight border controls have helped China keep the spread of Covid-19 under control. Photo: Reuters

China aims to vaccinate 40 per cent of its population by June. Photo: Xinhua

Coronavirus: China eases travel restrictions for visitors from Europe

China has relaxed its entry restrictions for European travellers. Photo: EPA-EFE

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China

Diplomacy


Swiss ambassador raises concerns at Beijing forum over Chinese visas for students and expatriates
Brazil’s envoy presses the need for multilateralism on trade rules



Swiss ambassador raises concerns at Beijing forum over Chinese visas for students and expatriates.


Coronavirus pandemic: All stories

Coronavirus China

Top diplomats call on China to ease coronavirus travel curbs

Swiss ambassador raises concerns at Beijing forum over Chinese visas for students and expatriates Brazil’s envoy presses the need for multilateralism on trade rules

Swiss ambassador raises concerns at Beijing forum over Chinese visas for students and expatriates

Brazil’s envoy presses the need for multilateralism on trade rules