The Standing Committee of the State Council of China has recently met and passed two revisions about administering health checks at country borders and management of foreigners admitted into the country. The following are questions posed by a news reporter and answers provided by the spokesperson for the Office of Legislative Affairs of the State Council about the specifics of the new provisions that were passed:

Q: What are the specifics of the two revisions that were passed?

A: The two revisions were that prohibition of foreigners entering the country on reasons of AIDS, STDs, and leprosy were lifted and that specifics for restricting entry of foreigners with mental illness and TB (pulmonary tuberculosis) were better refined.

Q: What was the reasoning behind doing away with restricting entry of foreigners with AIDS, STDs, and leprosy?

A: As we've learned more about the diseases, we've come to the conclusion that restricting foreigners carrying AIDS, STDs, and leprosy from entering the country will not necessarily do much for controlling the spread of the diseases in our homeland, rather it had repeatedly inconvenienced us in hosting different international events in recent years. Thus, it has become necessary that we must do away with the previous provisions.

Q: And once the old prohibitions are lifted, should it raise concerns about the continued spread of the specific diseases being harder to control as a result?

A: Lifting prohibitions about restricting entry of foreigners with AIDS, STDs, and leprosy will not cause these diseases to become more widely spread in our homeland. Scientific studies have proven that AIDS, STDs, and leprosy are not contracted from everyday normal contact between humans. And also speaking from previous experience where we've temporarily allowed foreigners with the specific afflictions to enter our country in the case of big international events, they had also not proven a threat to the public health of our country.

For example, during the 1990 Asian Games hosted in Beijing, the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing and then the 2008 Beijing Olympics, we provided for temporary allowance of foreigners with the specific afflictions to enter our country as approved by the State Council, and never in any of the cases were there adverse effects on public health and social stability in our country as a result; in fact, it has proven positive in improving our country's image on the whole.

Q: How are the policies like on similar issues with the rest of the world?

Most countries and regions in the world do allow entry for foreigners with AIDS, STDs, and leprosy; there are currently 110 countries that do so. South Korea and America have both dissolved entry restriction of foreigners with AIDS on January 1st and January 4th of 2010, respectively. Likewise, most countries in the world do not prohibit entry of a foreigner on reason of having STDs.

Q: The second revision that stated that foreigners with sever psychosis must be restricted entry into the country and that “open pulmonary tuberculosis” must be diagnosed as infectious before being considered as grounds for entry restriction. What is the reasoning behind these refined provisions?

A: Patients with a mild case of mental illness are generally not considered a threat to public security and are generally not a danger to themselves and others, thus it is not necessary to group these patients with the ones suffering from severe psychosis and restrict their entry as well. And likewise, not all patients with “open pulmonary tuberculosis” are infectious, thus it is necessary to limit entry restriction to those that are diagnosed as such.

Source: bjnews.com.cn

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Related links:

China Visa Guidelines – Policies, Regulations and Q & A’s
AIDS becomes China's deadliest infectious disease
China pledges to fight AIDS discrimination

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