Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated on Thursday, December 29 that no changes will be made to Australia’s policies regarding the entry of Chinese passengers, despite actions taken by certain countries to mandate mandatory COVID-19 tests.
Albanese said the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, “We will seek the right guidance from health specialists.”
“At this moment, there has been no change to the travel advise, but we are continuing to monitor the situation as well as the impact of COVID in Australia and throughout the world.”
Since China eased limitations on the spread of the coronavirus, the number of cases has skyrocketed, overloading hospitals and leading countries such as the United States, India, and Japan to impose travel restrictions on the mainland.
Australia and China have restarted diplomatic engagement after relations between the two governments deteriorated following Australia’s criticism of China’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak. China implemented trade restrictions on a number of significant Australian exports in 2020.
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This month, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong visited China for the first time since 2019.
Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell stated on Thursday that he was willing to travel to China to discuss Beijing’s curbs on imports of Australian barley and wine, which are the subject of an Australian complaint to the World Trade Organization.
“This is the only option when trade conflicts cannot be settled through conversation,” Farrell told ABC.
We would prefer to discuss the issues face-to-face.
Albanese, when questioned on the Seven Network if he planned to visit China, stated that he had a “really positive” meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Indonesia in November, but that “we’ll have to wait and see” about a visit by himself.
He said, “There are none scheduled at this time.”
