By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
BEIJING, China – The twenty year old ban prohibiting foreign travelers with HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and leprosy from entering China has been lifted.
The Chinese government lifted the ban on Tuesday. The revision comes just days before the opening of the Shanghai World Expo.
China’s State Council said that several provisions in the Border Quarantine Law and the Law on Control of the Entry and Exit of Aliens, which were implemented in the 1980s, are being revised because the ban was imposed two decades ago with “limited knowledge about HIV/AIDS and other diseases.” However, the Chinese authorities have now come to a conclusion that such ban had either limited or very small influence in controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases in China.
UN Secretary General Bank Ki-moon praised China and President Hu Jintao for lifting the ban saying, “Punitive policies and practices only hamper the global AIDS response.”
The United States also welcomed China’s move. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “I commend China’s decision to lift its ban . . . China’s step . . . is supposed by current medical knowledge of HIV transmission and risk.”
Clinton added that the long-standing policy of prohibiting people with HIV from entering the country will also help reduce the stigma and discrimination around this global epidemic.
Those inside China also believe that Chinese government’s lifting of the ban is a step towards progress. Medical professor at Qingdao University and an advocate for rights of people living with HIV (PLWHIV), Zhang Beichuan, said, “Previously, China viewed HIV/AIDS as an imported disease related to corrupted lifestyle. But now the government handles it with public health perspective.”
He Tiantian, a Chinese woman in her 30s living with HIV also said, “This revision shows us a silver lining, because we have advocating for the rights of PLWHIV . . . now we know we didn’t do it in vain.”
Nevertheless, He added that it will “take time to end discrimination, but the change in the government’s stance will help change the public’s attitude . . . .”
According to the Health Ministry, the estimated number of those living with HIV in China was approximately 740,000 as of October 2009 and almost 50,000 Chinese have lost their lives to HIV/AIDS since the disease was first reported in 1985.
For more information, please see:
China Daily – China lifts entry ban on HIV/AIDS foreigners – 29 April 2010
RTT News – China Lifts Ban Imposed on HIV-Infected Foreign Travelers – 27 April 2010
Zee News – China lifts ban on entry of HIV individuals; US welcomes – 30 April 2010
