France stopped requiring travelers from China to take a negative Covid-19 test less than 48 hours before arriving in the country, a measure implemented in early January.
“From February 16, travelers from China to France are no longer required to present the result of an RT-PCR test. [de ácido nucleico] (…), as well as the declaration of honor regarding Covid-19,” said the French Embassy in Beijing.
In a press release, published on Thursday night, the embassy added that “random screening upon arrival is also abolished,” but that the use of a surgical mask on board aircraft remains mandatory.
The measures, which covered travelers aged 11 or older, were imposed in early January as China faced a spike in Covid-19 cases following the end of “Zero Covid” policy restrictions in early December.
Like France, other countries, including the United Kingdom, Italy and the United States, have adopted this type of measure, which has been gradually suspended.
In Portugal, the Government extended until the end of February the Covid-19 control measures applied to flights from China, which include the random test of passengers upon arrival and the mandatory negative test upon boarding.
The French decision comes hours after French President Emmanuel Macron met in Paris with the head of Chinese diplomacy, Wang Yi, who was in the country for two days of talks.
The palace of the Presidency of the French Republic said Thursday that “the time for rapprochement” with China has come, to convince Beijing to “contribute” to peace in Ukraine, after a cooling linked, among others, to the pandemic of the new coronavirus. .coronavirus.
The Élysée confirmed that Macron’s visit to China “in the first quarter” is “in preparation”.
“It really is time to get closer to the Chinese authorities,” according to a presidential source, who points out that the objective is to “give impetus” to bilateral projects and talk about global challenges, such as the situation in Ukraine or the climate crisis. .
This resumption of bilateral contacts is linked to the end of the “zero Covid” policy restrictions in China, a Macron adviser said. In November, the French president met his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jiping, in Indonesia.
Relations between China and the European Union were strained in 2021 when the Europeans imposed sanctions over the crackdown on the Uyghur Muslim minority. Paris continues to acknowledge that the situation remains and ensures that the issue of human rights was raised “very clearly” with Wang Yi.
Bilaterally, the French government wants to “rebalance” access to the Chinese market, particularly in the aeronautical and agricultural sectors.
Source: TSF
