London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

China advises foreign diplomats to stay away from Beijing until May 15

China advises foreign diplomats to stay away from Beijing until May 15

Envoys may have diplomatic immunity, but they are not immune to Covid-19, foreign ministry says. US embassy says its employees will obey Chinese law but calls on Beijing to ensure their ‘protections and safeguards’ are maintained

Beijing has advised foreign diplomats to China currently outside the country not to return until the middle of next month, while the South China Morning Post was told on Friday that at least one European envoy is being treated for Covid-19 in hospital in the city.

“Diplomats enjoy immunity, but the virus will not grant them immunity,” China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Friday.

Beijing was aware of a number of foreign diplomats that had been infected with the coronavirus, so the foreign ministry was advising that those not already in Beijing should not return before May 15, she said, without stating the nationality of any of the people affected.

China last week imposed a ban on all foreigners returning to the country – including those with residence permits – but said the rule would not apply to diplomats, who are generally guaranteed freedom of movement and other privileges under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961.



Hua’s comments came after the ministry’s protocol department last week wrote to foreign embassies in Beijing asking that any of their envoys currently outside the city delay their plans to return, diplomatic sources said.

With the introduction of widespread travel restrictions and other measures to contain the Covid-9 outbreak in China, many foreign diplomats have found themselves unable to perform their regular duties of representing their citizens. The latest ruling is unlikely to make their work any easier.

“The US embassy expects our diplomats to abide by Chinese laws while they are living here,” Frank Whitaker, the mission’s minister counsellor for public affairs, said in response to Hua’s comments.

“However, we also expect the People’s Republic of China to uphold the Vienna Convention that lays out protections and safeguards for our diplomats while on official assignment in this country.”

A spokesman for the European Union’s mission in the city said he was aware of one employee of an EU member’s embassy who had recently returned from overseas and was now being treated in hospital for Covid-19.

He did not specify the nationality of the person – except to say it was not an employee of the EU mission itself – but said that a number of other European diplomats were currently either in quarantine outside Beijing or in isolation at their homes within the city.

The EU mission confirmed that the foreign ministry had “strongly advised” diplomats not to return before May 15, adding that the notice was in keeping with other measures introduced by the Beijing municipal government.

Authorities in the capital said earlier that members of the diplomatic corps would be subject to the same rules and regulations as all other foreigners.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×