China to issue ‘health certificates’ for global travel
BEIJING: In what could possibly be a first step towards a global health passport, China said yesterday that it would be issuing "health certificates" that could to allow for international travel amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We will introduce an international health certificate... and launch the Chinese version of an international electronic health travel document," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.
The certificate will allow for the verification of nucleic acid tests and vaccination records.
Mr Wang did not specify which countries would be included and whether travellers holding the document would still have to undergo quarantine upon entering China.
He also touched on non-Covid-19 issues and struck a tough line even as he outlined where the world's two biggest economies could work together.
FRICTIONS
Questioned about recent US-China frictions over Taiwan, the Xinjiang region and the South China Sea, Mr Wang said Beijing "will never accept baseless accusations and smears".
"The US had used democracy and human rights as a basis for arbitrarily interfering with other countries' affairs," he said.
Mr Wang said differences between the two must be managed carefully. Both must advocate healthy competition and not zero-sum finger-pointing, and areas such as climate change and fighting the pandemic were where they could cooperate.
As for the South China Sea, he said China and Asean have reached common understanding on maintaining peace in the disputed seas, but "the US and some other western countries want to see instability in the region". - THE STRAITS TIMES, REUTERS
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