The British Chamber of Commerce in China has submitted comments to the Ministry of Commerce and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade on the recently released Notice on Further Optimising the Prevention and Control Measures of the COVID-19 in a Scientific and Precise Manner (hereinafter the ‘20 Measures’). Below is a summary of our comments.
The British Chamber welcomes the Chinese government’s efforts to optimise its prevention and control measures of COVID-19 in order to minimise disruption to people’s life and the economy. Our members were particularly encouraged by the shortening of quarantine times for inbound travels, the cancelling of the flight circuit breaker mechanism and the promise to only require quarantine once for inbound travellers. These adjustments on border policies can further facilitate the much-needed global business travel and people-to-people exchanges, thereby contributing to China’s economic recovery. Meanwhile, domestic control measures, such as cancelling the designation of medium-risk areas and ‘secondary close contacts’, if fully implemented, are also expected to reduce disruptions to society and optimise the use of medical and human resources dedicated to COVID-19 management.
However, two weeks after the introduction of the 20 measures, the initial hope businesses harboured unfortunately seems to be fading. In the meantime, doubt and pessimism have been mounting as the level of uncertainty has increased significantly rather than decreased in any meaningful way. While the central government continues to stress the importance of a targeted and scientific approach to COVID-19 management, and explicitly opposes draconian rules at the local and community level, in reality, the opposite has been happening. We have been seeing an increasing number of people being put under quarantine, entire communities locked down when they should not have been, more businesses ordered to close and cities across China establishing stricter rules for incoming travellers. The goal to achieve zero COVID has clearly outweighed any other concern at the local level, preventing the 20 measures from achieving their intended effects. Over the weekend, although the chamber is encouraged to see the state media including Xinhua and People’s Daily criticise unauthorised lockdowns, only when the messaging drives real changes on the ground, will the public’s confidence in the government’s COVID-19 management be restored.
What is even more worrying is the lack of communication in enforcing new rules by local governments and communities. Some of our members have reported being arbitrarily put under lockdown without any explanation. Others went on business trips after the release of the 20 measures, only to find themselves experiencing issues with local healthcode yet again in their destinations without any clear logic. Some others also see ‘close contacts’ defined broadly, therefore faced with a higher risk of being designated one and required to quarantine during their trips. Confusion and frustration have also increased in the Chaoyang district in Beijing the past two week as many testing sites have been removed while residents are required 24 or 48-hour test results for entering public places. With all these rules contradicting the 20 measures, there also lacks an enforceable mechanism to report them and prevent local governments and communities from escalating their COVID-19 responses.
In order to ensure that the 20 new measures are truly implemented and in a way that allows for the sustainable development of the economy and society, the British Chamber of Commerce in China proposes the following recommendations.
Recommendations to improve implementation of the 20 Measures:
- Prioritise devising a science-based exit strategy and communicate it clearly with the public. As can be seen in the past week, public frustration on lockdowns and stringent control measures have been growing. It is becoming clear that hard lockdowns are becoming increasingly unsustainable. Therefore, it is more important than ever that the government itself understands how the country moves out of COVID-19.
Science should take the lead as the government decides on the path to be taken. While the concern regarding any approach other than ‘zero COVID’ is well understood, the government does need to look into plausible alternatives or feasible ways to implement the current approach sustainably – most importantly how to protect the demographics most vulnerable to COVID-19 through a range of measures including increasing their vaccination rate.
The government also needs to communicate its strategy transparently with the public in this process so that the nation understands the reasoning and can move forward with a clear direction.
- Demonstrate consistent and clear position on COVID-19. The Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council should identify and correct local measures that run counter to the 20 new measures. Many recent local measures in violation with the 20 measures continue to be rolled out without any consequence. This sends mixed messages, causing certain parts of the population to believe the central government is effectively endorsing those measures, potentially hurting the government’s credibility as well as aggravating uncertainty for the public and businesses. In particular, the government, communities and health officials must:
Ensure consistent implementation of COVID-19 rules across the nation;
Identify causes for the spread of COVID-19 with the support of scientific evidence and adopt measures that are truly effective;
Avoid widespread lockdown and suspension of businesses;
Establish an enforceable mechanism to allow the public to report on draconian local measures and relevant personnel.
- Communicate with the public including the foreign business community and individuals in a clear, transparent, and timely manner, or else, it risks denting the public’s confidence even further. Clear communication is urgently needed on every level ranging from offering reasons as to why an apartment building is locked down to explaining the grounds on which healthcode is turned ‘abnormal’.
- Further reduce quarantine time for inbound travellers, improve quarantine facilities and reinstate more international flights. These measures will go a long way to help revive international travel in and out of China. Current entry rules and quarantine conditions, while having been improved further, still fail to significantly boost business executives’ willingness to travel into China from elsewhere. In order to truly encourage such business exchanges, the processes need to be further streamlined and conditions improved including allowing family to quarantine together and provide essential services (e.g. heating in northern cities) at quarantine hotels.
- Allow international travellers to obtain healthcode in a timely manner so that when they complete quarantine they can travel with certainty within the country. BritCham China members report difficulty acquiring green healthcode to Beijing during their quarantine processes which increase uncertainty and anxiety regarding domestic travel once quarantine finishes.
The British Chamber of Commerce in China comprehends the challenges the Chinese government faces in dealing with the current COVID-19 situation. We want to highlight the importance of following the science, to which we once again call on authorities to implement the new COVID measures with consistency. British companies continue to see potential in engaging with the Chinese market; they want to see a clear and consistent exit strategy so that the potential of the China market can be realised with confidence and certainty. We stand ready for policy makers to reach out to us, so we can support on successfully implementing COVID-19 measures, and in particular in communicating relevant changes to the business community.
中国英国商会就最近发布的《关于进一步优化新冠肺炎疫情防控措施，科学精准做好防控工作的通知》（以下简称为“二十条措施”），向商务部提交了相关意见。下文总结了本商会提交的意见内容。
中国政府为最大程度减少疫情对人民生活和经济发展的影响，努力优化疫情防控措施，中国英国商会对此表示欢迎。尤其是缩短入境隔离时间、取消航班熔断机制和对入境人员仅要求一次隔离等调整，令我们的会员备受鼓舞。对入境防疫政策的调整能够促进必要的全球商务旅行和民间交流，进而有助于中国的经济复苏。此外，针对国内疫情推出的防控措施调整，如取消划定中风险区和“密接的密接”等，若充分落实，也能减少疫情防控对社会生活的影响，并能更好地利用医疗资源和人力资源。
然而，二十条措施出台两周后，企业最初的希望似乎正在减弱。与此同时，疑惑和悲观的情绪增多，因为不确定性并没有减少，反而显著增多。虽然中央政府三令五申科学精准防疫的重要性，并且明确反对地方和社区采取层层加码，但现实情况中，相反的情况在发生。我们注意到，越来越多人被隔离，有的地方整个社区被不合理地封控，更多商户被迫停业，许多城市对外来人员制定了更严格的规定。地方上对于实现“清零”目标的重视，超过了对其他问题的考虑，导致二十条措施未能达到预期效果。上周末，虽然包括新华社和《人民日报》在内的国家媒体都批评了未经授权的封控行为，令英国商会备受鼓舞，但只有当这些信息传递真正推动基层做出改变，才能重新恢复公众对于政府疫情防控政策的信心。
我们更担忧的是，地方政府和社区在执行其新措施时缺乏沟通。我们的一些会员表示被随意封控，但没有得到任何解释。一些会员单位在二十条措施发布之后安排了员工出差，但在抵达目的地后本地健康码却出现了问题，并且没有任何合理的解释。还有会员发现“密切接触者”的定义过于宽泛，因此在出差过程中被判定为“密接”和被要求隔离的风险更高。过去两周，北京市朝阳区取消了许多核酸检测点，而居民进入公共场所却需要出示24小时或48小时核酸证明，这种做法令人不解。这些规定都与二十条措施精神相悖，但基层民众也缺乏对这些措施有效的监督机制，很难阻止地方政府和社区层层加码。
为了确保新出台的二十条措施得到真正落实，保证经济社会的可持续发展，中国英国商会提出下列建议。
改善疫情措施以及其执行情况的建议：
- 优先制定基于科学的疫情退出策略，并与公众进行明确沟通。从过去一周的情况可以看出，公众对封控和严厉防控措施的忧虑在增加。硬性封控措施变得越来越难以持久。因此，现在最重要的是，政府了解如何才能让全国最终走出疫情。
政府应该以科学为主导，决定接下来处理疫情的路线。政府对“清零”以外的其他疫情防控方法表示担忧，这一点可以理解。但应该研究可靠的替代方案，或者是针对现有做法研究出可持续的途径，其中最重要的是如何通过提高疫苗接种率等一系列措施，保护最容易受到影响的群体。
在这个过程中，政府还应该向公众透明传达应对疫情的战略方针，使全国民众能够理解这种战略背后的理论，并朝着明确的方向推进。
- 明确应对新冠疫情的立场。国务院联防联控机制应该发现并纠正地方上违反二十条措施的做法。最近地方上不断出现许多违反二十条措施的做法，却没有任何后果。这向社会发出了不明确的信息，导致部分人认为这种做法实际得到中央政府支持，可能伤害政府的公信力，并且加剧公众和企业的不确定性。尤其，政府、社区和卫生官员需要做到以下几个方面：
保证疫情防控措施在全国得到统一执行；
以科学证据为依据确定疫情扩散的原因，并采取真正有效的措施；
避免大范围封控和停业；
确立行之有效的举报机制，使公众能够监督层层加码的地方防控措施和相关个人。
- 明确、透明、及时地与公众（包括外资企业和个人）沟通，否则可能进一步损害公众对疫情防控的信心。各级政府和各社区迫切需要进行明确沟通，包括说明封锁公寓楼的原因，解释健康码“异常”的根据等。
- 进一步缩短入境人员的隔离时间，改善隔离设施的条件，恢复更多国际航班。这些措施对于恢复出入境旅行有巨大帮助。目前的入境规定和隔离条件虽然有所改进，但对提高其他国家的企业高管前往中国出差的意愿的作用仍然有限。为了真正鼓励更多商务交流，应该进一步简化入境手续，改善隔离条件，包括隔离酒店允许家人一起隔离和提供基本服务（如北方城市提供供暖）等。
- 允许国际旅客及时取得国内健康码，以保证其结束隔离后，可以在国内出行。中国英国商会的会员向我们报告，在北京隔离期间，及时获取健康码绿码存在困难，这增加了他们隔离结束后在国内出行的不确定性。
中国英国商会非常理解中国政府应对当前疫情形势所面临的挑战。我们希望强调科学防疫的重要性，并再次呼吁各级政府统一落实新的疫情防控措施。英国企业为发展在华业务投入了大量资源，并且继续看好中国市场的潜力。然而为了实现这些潜力，英国企业需要一个明确的、一贯的疫情退出策略，才能有信心、有把握继续开展在华业务。中国英国商会随时愿意与政策制定者进行对话交流，为优化新冠肺炎疫情防控措施的成功实施尽一份绵薄之力，尤其是在协助政府向商界传达疫情防控政策调整方面，我们愿意提供力所能及的支持。