China shut foreigners out after the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country, having the country go on lockdown.
Many other countries across the world shut out foreigners too but they gradually started opening up.
However, China had refused to open up, especially as the country continues to record new cases.
The country recently announced that it will once again start issuing a range of visas to foreigners with effect from Wednesday.
The move marks the latest step towards reopening China to the outside world.
In addition to new visas being reviewed and approved, those issued before March 28, 2020, remain valid, the foreign ministry’s consular affairs bureau said in an online notice.
The move would “further facilitate the exchange of Chinese and foreign personnel”, it added.
How China Shut Itself From The World
China only began emerging from its Covid-19 containment strategy in late 2022.
This was after demonstrations against President Xi Jinping’s signature policy broke out across the country.
You Might Like: NLC Gives FG 7 Days To End Naira, Fuel Scarcity
Those protests in late November expanded into calls for more political freedoms, with calls for Xi to resign.
The protests were the most widespread opposition to communist rule since the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising.
In December, Chinese authorities ended the regime of mass testing, lockdowns, and long quarantines.
However, this led to a rise in COVID-19 cases across the country.
Beijing announced that inbound travelers to the country would no longer need to quarantine from January 8.
Still the visa restrictions on foreigners were not reversed.
But Beijing promised that it will “continue to adjust its visa policy for foreigners visiting China in a scientific and dynamic manner”.
