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August 29th, 2022 
Awake Goy China’s ruling communist party (CCP) has recently gone back and forth on its COVID-19 restrictions for entering the country.
Just a day after announcing that it was lifting certain entry requirements, the regime stated that it was not loosening control. An expert believes the attempt to loosen restrictions is just for show ahead of the CCP’s upcoming party congress.
The Chinese regime’s General Administration of Customs posted on its official account on Chinese social media Wechat on Aug. 25 that it would launch a new “Entry-Exit Health Declaration Card” on Aug. 31, relaxing its requirements for reporting COVID-19 PCR results, past infections, and vaccination status for travelers coming in and out of the country.
Major Chinese mainland media, such as Daily Economic News, all reported on the policy change as, “Important changes in the declaration of COVID-19 testing information for entry and exit.”
However, on Aug. 26, the General Administration of Customs office issued a statement saying that China still requires international passengers to return a negative COVID-19 PCR test before boarding a China-bound flight and quarantined upon arrival.
It said that the revision to the “Health Declaration Card” was not to relax China’s COVID-19 prevention and control restrictions, but to improve the efficiency of the declaration system. “There are no major changes to the requirements,” it said.
According to the current regulations, airline passengers must return two negative PCR tests within 48 hours of departure. They also have to report their test results and other COVID-related information to their Chinese embassies for a digital health code for boarding.
General Administration of Customs emphasized in the statement that it adhered to the regime’s “zero-COVID” policy, “preventing the virus coming from other countries; while domestically preventing the rebound of the epidemic.”
Regarding the Chinese Customs statements, Wang He, current affairs commentator based in the United States, told The Epoch Times on Aug. 26 that the devil is always in the details. On the surface, the CCP said that it would cancel certain requirements, but it remains questionable as to how they will implement the new changes.
Wang said that the CCP’s approach to epidemic prevention was very different from that of the international community.
“After more than two years of lockdown, it has created difficulties in exchanges between China and other countries, and has had a negative impact on the economy, diplomacy and politics,” he said of the CCP’s travel and other restrictions.
This time, customs announced the cancellation of some of the requirements. “Maybe it [the CCP] intends to change its image on the eve of the 20th Party congress to show off its epidemic prevention and control performance,” he said.
“However, domestically, the regime continues to carry out strict ‘zero-COVID’ measures, forcing people to do PCR testing. And they even madethe Chinese women’s volleyball team wear masks when competing at an international event,” he said. “It is no longer about people’s well-being and humanity but has become a rigid political task.”
Lin Cenxin and Yi Ru contributed to the report.
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Alex Wu is a U.S.-based writer for The Epoch Times focusing on Chinese society, Chinese culture, human rights, and international relations.
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