If there�s one thing that makes absolutely zero impact on the policy of the Chinese government, it�s the grumblings of the 0.1% of people in China whole have a realistic viewpoint of the severity of covid and covid policies. The moment you have a billion people who are disgruntled by covid policies, there might be a point. But 99% of Chinese people are fed a CCP curated abomination of reality about what�s going on in China and the outside world. They are happy to strap on their masks all day, flash QR codes all day, and take their covid tests every 2 days and never dream of crossing an international border.

For instance, when I explain to Chinese colleagues that I have had covid and every single person in America that I�m friends or family with has had covid with symptoms well aligned to a moderate cold, they look at me like I am a ghost. And they insist that my organs are permanently damaged.

China CCP has full grip of its people and covid.

The fact that normal people are still trying to fly here cracks me up.

Chinese people have not been treating their COVID fears rationally. They are, as you say, too paranoid. The odds of dying from the disease is low. The odds of them catching the disease at this point is even more miniscule.

However, you're not treating this disease rationally either. Your personal experience doesn't matter, at all. Mortality rates of current variants are well understood, and it's under 1%. This is a number that doesn't contradict your experience, but it's caused almost 900k deaths in the US alone, a country with 1/4 the population of China. You're advocating a policy that will create far more deaths than this. Your "realistic viewpoint" is a crime against humanity. This is the true abomination here, not whatever the CCP policy is. Not to mention 100x more people who survive but still fall ill. Even if it's just flu symptoms (but flu symptoms is not a guarantee, no matter how you claim it is), I think many people would still prefer wearing a mask to getting sick.

No one has found a good solution to open up and prevent widespread disease yet. With omicron, countries (singapore, austrailia, etc) that have recently opened up (even with high vaxed numbers) are now experiencing huge case loads. I bet they wish they can close down again, but the cat's out of the box. And that's the other big factor at play here -- there's uncertainty because you don't know how the disease will mutate. We *know* that with current rates, opening up will cause millions of deaths. But with the pandora's box open, who knows what else will happen.

You are right in that before Omicron, perhaps Asian countries would've opened up as most of the population becomes vaccinated, but with Omicron, there really is no middle ground, either you try to keep it at zero, or it will spread exponentially. So yes while I don't like many of the zero covid policies, I do understand why China, but also democracies like Taiwan and Korea are trying to keep COVID away.

Korea and Japan both have exponential case numbers now, not sure it counts anymore

Also last time I checked around Thanksgiving there�s a quarantine exception in Korea if you have direct family members there, lol

I didn't say they are successful at it . Even in China there have been many cases (by Chinese standard) in Beijing in the past few weeks. Who knows, maybe they are just waiting for the Olympics to start so they can blame the cases on the foreigners (after blaming frozen food and international mail)

First successful transit via Taiwan from Thailand recorded in today's Shanghai Covid report:

病例3为中国籍，在泰国工作，自泰国出发，经台湾地区转机，于2022年1月20日抵达上海浦东国际机场，入关后 即被集中隔离观察，其间出现症状。综合流行病学史、临床症状、实验室检测和影像学检查结果等，诊断为确诊病 例。

Case 3 is a Chinese national working in Thailand, who travelled from Thailand and transited via Taiwan, arriving in PVG on 2022/01/20.

Any details? I thought transit through another country was supposed to be against the current policy.

Mainland China will include people with Republic of China travel documents as Chinese nationals

I assume the individual in question has a ROC passport and a Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents. Unlike PRC visas, Mainland Travel Permits were never canceled.

Nope, Taiwanese nationals are always listed in the official Shanghai Covid report as 台湾地区居民, and not 中国籍。

Here is an example from 2022/01/09:
病例7为中国籍，病例8为台湾地区居民，病例7、病例8在美国旅行，自美国出发，乘坐同一航班，于2022年1月3日抵达上海浦东 国际机场，入关后即被集中隔离观察，其间出现症状。综合流行病学史、临床症状、实验室检测和影像学检查结果 等，诊断为确诊病例。

No details I'm afraid. But I suspect it's going to be similar to the previous HK transit cases, i.e., the departing airline incorrectly allowed the transit passengers to board the first flight to Taiwan, and once in Taiwan no transit rules were enforced.

Taiwan and HK are both places where you can fly to China without a green code.

Thanks as always for providing helpful information.

One question on the above regarding Taiwan and HK not requiring green code to fly to China:
Does this apply to local HK and Taiwan citizens or does it also apply to expats who live and work in HK and Taiwan on long term working visa?

China Airlines website says they do not allow transit to the Mainland from an international flight into Taiwan. Very curious how this person managed to board a flight to Taiwan in the first place.

This is my only semi-realistic beef at present. Well, I guess it's a little more complicated.

1. The Chinese should allow people to do their -7 and -2 tests at their points of origin. While I realize there are a lot of sketchy Covid test places (e.g. you basically pay for a negative result), they had no trouble vetting clinics near (or not so near in the case of DTW) gateway airports, and even approved a national chain for SEA departing passengers
2. They should eliminate the direct flight rule, possibly with some exceptions (e.g. Canada, Germany, France, Japan, Korea should be okay, but it's cool if they prohibit some transit points)

I look at this mostly from a cost (to passenger) perspective. I haven't checked US-China fares in a few weeks, but my most recent data point was $5500+ for all flights, except for some of the LAX departures (to places you probably have no interest in going). The -7 rule is an additional pain point. If you need to stay in a hotel near your gateway airport for 7 nights, that's $1500+. Tack on an additional $1000 for your Covid tests (assuming SF or SanJo; other gateways offer cheaper options). So, that's $8000. And, if your flight is canceled, you're on the hook for additional hotel nights, and probably another Covid test.

Meanwhile, there are many sub $1500 flight options for US-China via third countries. And, I'd like to think that PRC-approved Covid tests in most US cities would cost $200 or less each.

IMO, $2000 v $8000 is a substantial difference for many people.

The green code is simply a condition that you have to satisfy before you can check into your flight. When flying from HK/Taiwan there is no such requirement at check-in. Otherwise you must still satisfy the same requirements as in pre-Covid times, in other words a valid Chinese visa/RP before you are allowed to check into a flight to China from HK/Taiwan. Your residency in Taiwan/HK is irrelevant for the check-in process. That is, even if you are currently in HK or Taiwan with a visitor's visa, you are still allowed to fly to China. Of course, if you're not a resident of Taiwan/HK, you can't currently enter either of them from abroad (unless you can obtain an exemption, e.g., through a resident spouse).

If you are travelling from HK there is also the option of a land border crossing, either at Shenzhen Bay or via the Zhuhai bridge.

Since the trip started in Thailand, most likely they didn't check in with China Airlines at all. Clearly the transit ban was not enforced after they arrived in Taiwan.