HIV Visitors Allowed to Enter China

The Chinese government has lifted a ban restricting HIV positive visitors from entering the country. The decision comes just days before crowds of spectators for the May 1st opening of the Shanghai World Expo start to arrive. According to officials, this year’s event is expected to draw around 4 million people from around the world.

“The ban was imposed in the 1980s because of a lack of knowledge and is now obsolete and discriminatory,” said He Xiong, Deputy Head of the Beijing Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Foreigners applying for a Chinese visa will no longer be required to take a mandatory Aids test, however they still must fill out a detailed report as to the status of their health on the application form.

China follows South Korea and the United States by being the third country this year to abolish travel restrictions for HIV positive visitors. These two countries amended their laws on January 1st.

This ban was criticized by many to be discriminatory, especially after widespread publicity when Australian author, Robert Dessaix, was denied entry because he indicated his HIV positve status on his visa application form. Mr. Dessaix, after being forced to cancel his attendance at the Shanghai Literary Festival, said he felt “snubbed and insulted, of course, and also humiliated. There had been interventions at the highest level on my behalf, but they were refused, so I see it as a snub to Australia, not just to me.”

U.S. President Obama said this type of restriction was “rooted in fear rather than fact.”