Foreigners in China could be deported and banned from re-entry for 10 years if they break the country’s coronavirus-related rules, the government has warned. China’s National Immigration Administration announced on its website on Friday that foreign quarantine evaders and rule breakers would face consequences as the vast majority of China’s dwindling COVID-19 cases continue to arrive from overseas.

While Chinese citizens can be fined or jailed for breaking quarantine and other public health rules, foreigners could see their visas cancelled and find themselves deported from China. Those who are forcibly expelled would not be permitted to re-enter for between 12 months and 10 years, the SCMP reports.

There have been reports of foreigners breaking public health and quarantine measures, such as three people jumping a queue to get tested in Qingdao and one man who reportedly bit a nurse in Guangzhou who was trying to stop him leaving a hospital.

As almost all foreigners were banned from entering China on March 28, however, the overwhelming majority of new imported coronavirus cases are being carried by Chinese citizens returning from abroad. China has also grounded most international flights and taken the unprecedented step of asking foreign diplomats not to return to the country until next month.

Just as Chinese people have experienced racism and xenophobia in other parts of the world due to fears of the virus, foreigners in China are now receiving frosty treatment. In recent weeks there have been reports of expats being refused service at restaurants, bars and salons and even finding themselves barred from their homes by their residential committees. There have also been many complaints among the sizable African community in Guangzhou. Some say they are being unfairly treated after rumors began to circulate about a COIVD-19 outbreak within their community.

Zhao Lijian, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, has dismissed the claims of xenophobia and insisted that China will not tolerate any form of discrimination or racism.

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Keywords: foreigners in China