China- Japan ‘ fast track’ may support use of health app
Hopes are rising for Japan to become an early adopter of the China- proposed digital healthcode mutual recognition mechanism, after a “fast track” for necessary personnel flows between the two countries was announced on Wednesday, which is to be officially up and running at the end of this month.
The Chinese and Japanese governments reached consensus on setting up a “fast track” to facilitate flows of people including commercial exchanges on the basis of strict virus prevention and containment, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lilian said on Wednesday.
Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi agreed on Tuesday to roll out of a fast track for necessary personnel exchanges within this month to push for the resumption of work and production cooperation.
Hailing the move as an active response to foster bilateral flows of people, Zhao announced that the two countries agreed to officially launch the fast track on November 30.
Businesspeople likely to resume travel would be employees taking short business trips and those having been assigned to work overseas. They have to submit certifications including negative nucleic acid test results, the Nikkei reported.
The Japanese Embassy in China on Wednesday didn’t give a definite answer to the Global Times’ inquiry about efforts on the side of Japan to ensure the smooth launch of the fast track.
Some Japanese companies and commercial institutions operating in China told the Global Times that it’s unclear at this point whether they qualify for commercial exchanges as described in the fast track. They said they had not received any relevant information from the Japanese Embassy in China or other Japanese institutions.
The forthcoming fast track between China and Japan could be a prelude to the trial of a mutually recognized health code system in the two countries, said Qi Qi, an aviation market watcher.
In a fresh sign of the wider use of the digital health- code, the Chinese Embassy in France issued a notice on its website on Wednesday, requesting both Chinese and foreign passengers boarding flights from France to China to file for health codes, effective December 1.