Will China Prez Xi Jinping follow COVID protocols as he set to travel abroad 1st time to attend SCO summit?

Beijing, Sep 13: China said on Tuesday that it is working with relevant countries to ensure a "safe and successful" visit of President Xi Jinping who is set to travel out of the country for the first time after the coronavirus outbreak over two years ago to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to attend the SCO summit this week.

Xi will visit Kazakhstan on Wednesday where he will hold talks with his counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and later travel to Samarkand in neighbouring Uzbekistan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit to be held on September 15-16.

The Beijing-headquartered SCO is an eight-member economic and security bloc comprising China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin are due to attend the two-day meeting.

On its sidelines, Xi is due to meet Putin and various other leaders though Beijing has not yet officially announced his programme in Samarkand. Public attention is focused on what coronavirus protocols Xi - a firm advocate of the much criticised stringent dynamic Zero COVID policy of China - will follow on his first tour abroad and whether he would go for mandatory quarantine on his return.

Asked at a media briefing here on Tuesday what measures China is taking to protect him from COVID-19 and whether he would follow Beijing’s mandatory quarantine procedures on return, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing is working with relevant countries to ensure that his visit is safe and successful.

"What I can share with you is that China will work with relevant countries to ensure that the visit will be a safe and successful one," Mao said.

Under the regulations of the 'zero COVID' policy people travelling to China have to undergo seven-day mandatory quarantine at designated centres on arrival and three days at home.

Xi, 69, did not travel out of China since January 2020 over safety concerns related to the coronavirus which broke out in Wuhan in December 2019 and later spiralled into a pandemic affecting millions of people all over the world. His last visit was to Myanmar.

China has announced that the coronavirus outbreak followed by lockdowns and global travel restrictions affecting his international travel. Xi addressed most of the global events including the UN Climate Conference in October last in Glasgow virtually, while most of the world leaders attended it.

While the coronavirus with its variants is still prevalent in most parts of the world, China continues its stringent dynamic 'zero COVID' policy with limited travel links with the outside world and periodic lockdowns of its cities to curb the virus. Attention is now turned to what protocols Xi and his delegation will follow on return.