Beijing has threatened to retaliate against countries that impose COVID-19 testing requirements on arrivals from China.
A growing list of countries, including England, have declared that people traveling from mainland China will need to test negative before flying.
China’s Foreign Ministry said the country was “willing to improve communication” but strongly opposed “attempts to manipulate epidemic prevention and control measures for political purposes”.
It comes as the virus continues to spread in the country amid the rollback of some of its notoriously strict coronavirus rules.
“We believe that the entry restrictions adopted by some countries targeting China lack scientific basis, and some excessive practices are even more unacceptable,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said on Tuesday.
“We strongly oppose attempts to manipulate COVID measures for political purposes and will take countermeasures based on the principle of reciprocity.”
The UK Department of Health said China was hit with the new rules due to “a lack of comprehensive health information”.
He added: “The situation remains under review and the UK is working with China on the next steps. If there are improvements in information sharing and greater transparency, then the temporary measures will be reconsidered.”
The United States and France are among other countries that will require travelers from China to take COVID-19 tests.
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China’s abandonment of a “zero-COVID” policy that had been championed by President Xi Jinping followed protests that marked the strongest display of public defiance in his decade in office and coincided with the slowest economic growth in nearly half a century.
Authorities estimated that 250 million people likely contracted the virus in the first 20 days of December, according to leaked notes.
Shanghai last month had 5.43 million positive cases but the actual number may be much higher as asymptomatic cases are no longer being recorded.
