S1E13: China relaxes pandemic travel curbs but this does not feel like a new phase: Letter From The Bureau

Asian Insider

Synopsis: Every first Friday of the month, The Straits Times' foreign editor Bhagyashree Garekar chats with ST’s correspondents in the Asia-Pacific, the US and Europe.

They talk about life as it goes on, amid the screaming headlines and bubbling crises.

In this episode, she chats with ST's China correspondent Elizabeth Law.

China, which has maintained some of the world's strictest entry requirements, eased its quarantine policy for international arrivals in late June, 2022.

It was the most significant relaxation of curbs since the Covid-19 pandemic began, but does it mean Beijing is ready to be more tolerant of the virus?

Highlights (click/tap above):

2:15 Elizabeth Law on recovering from Covid in a Shanghai hospital

4:13 Motivation behind China's decision to cut quarantine for international travellers; a big change from China’s Covid-zero approach?

9:17 Does living with the virus mean “lying flat”, the translation of the Chinese phrase "tang ping"?

12:59 What is “strategic disobedience”?

16:23 In a politically important year, will the Shanghai and Beijing leaders be impacted by the way they handled the Covid outbreak?

Read Elizabeth Law’s article here: https://str.sg/wL8G

Produced by: Bhagyashree Garekar ([e-mail]), Ernest Luis, Teo Tong Kai

Edited by: Teo Tong Kai

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Chapters

1. China relaxes pandemic travel curbs but this does not feel like a new phase: Letter From The Bureau (00:00:00)

2. Recovering from Covid in a Shanghai hospital (00:02:15)

3. A big change from China's Covid-zero approach (00:04:13)

4. Does living with the virus mean "lying flat"? (00:09:17)

5. What is "strategic disobedience"? (00:12:59)

6. Has Covid handling scarred major city leaders? (00:16:23)