China envoy asks Philippines to re-examine travel ban to China, special administrative regions

February 17, 2020

Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian on Monday urged the Philippines to take a second look at a travel ban it had imposed on mainland China and its special administrative regions to curb the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-2019).

Huang suggested any decision should be based on science.

“We hope to see scientific and calm response and scientific measures to be taken, to prevent the spread of the virus here. We hope there will be a reassessment of the situation so that unnecessary measures will be lifted,” Huang said in a speech before the Association for Philippines-China Understanding.

“On the other hand, of course, we respect the decision of the government of the Philippines. I understand its concern to safeguard the health and safety of its people,” Huang added.

When asked to comment on Senator Panfilo Lacson’s statement that the travel ban imposed by the Philippines on Taiwan was more on the One-China policy, Huang said “We hope there will be reasonable reaction to the epidemic. We don’t encourage overreaction from any country. We do appreciate the One-China policy.”

Huang noted that Chinese tourists make 160 million outbound trips each year.

“There will be big blow on tourism industry of this country,” Huang said, even as cited reports from the  Department of Tourism that losses could reach P42.9 billion from February to April.

Huang said the Chinese government is doing everything to prevent the further spread of the disease, saying “the situation is still quite severe in the province of Hubei, especially in Wuhan.”

“But the situation is improving remarkably especially in those majority area of China out of Hubei province,” he added.

Huang said in the 31 Chinese provinces, there are 2,048 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 105 deaths. There are also 1,563 suspected cases.

“Is COVID-19 preventable, controllable and curable? In my understanding, the answer is yes and yes. We are fully confident that we’ll beat the virus,” he said. DMS