Trump Administration to Ban Chinese Airlines as Beijing Defies Agreement
“Chinese carriers are currently flying four round-trip flights to the United States weekly.”
President Donald Trump’s administration plans to ban Chinese airlines from flying into the United States starting later this month, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced.
The decision comes after Beijing refused to allow U.S. air carriers to resume services to mainland China. The U.S. restrictions, set to come to start on June 16, will apply to state-owned Air China, China Eastern Airlines, and China Southern Airlines.
“Air China, China Eastern and China Southern have all maintained scheduled passenger service to New York City area airports, among other US flights,” the newspaper South China Morning Post confirmed.
Currently, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines run cargo flights to China but are not allowed by Beijing to resume passenger services this month. China’s stance violates the bilateral air transport agreement, the Department of Transportation said.
To curb the spread of Wuhan coronavirus, the Trump administration barred the entry of non-U.S. nationals who had recently been to China on January 21. At that time, President Trump was attacked by the leading Democrats and the mainstream media for going after China.
The Reuters news agency reported President Trump’s decision:
President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday barred Chinese passenger carriers from flying to the United States starting on June 16 as it pressures Beijing to let U.S. air carriers resume flights amid simmering tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
The move, announced by the U.S. Department of Transportation, penalizes China for failing to comply with an existing agreement on flights between the two countries. U.S.-Chinese relations have soured in recent months amid tensions surrounding the coronavirus pandemic and Beijing’s move to impose new national security legislation for Hong Kong.
The order applies to Air China, China Eastern Airlines Corp, China Southern Airlines Co and Hainan Airlines Holding Co, as well as smaller Sichuan Airlines Co and Xiamen Airlines Co. Chinese carriers are currently flying four round-trip flights to the United States weekly.
Delta Air Line and United Airlines have asked to resume flights to China this month, even as Chinese carriers have continued U.S. flights during the pandemic.
Air travel played a crucial role in the global outbreak of the coronavirus, which first appeared in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. Beijing cut off flights from Wuhan to the rest of the country by late January but kept on pushing international air travel to and from China.
“You could fly out of Wuhan where the primary problem was … and you could go to different parts of the world, but you couldn’t go [from Wuhan] to Beijing and you couldn’t go to any place in China. So what’s that all about?” President Trump asked on May 3.
This point, based on air travel data, has also been made by others, including noted Harvard professor Niall Ferguson, only to be dismissed by the mainstream media as a conspiracy theory. Then NBC accused the President of advancing a “flawed theory that China nefariously continued to allow flights out of Wuhan.”
The media even went after Trump for pointing out the origins of the Wuhan virus.
“Trump calling coronavirus ‘Chinese virus’ encourages racism,” The Washington Post claimed. The President was “weaponizing bigotry and stereotypes” by “labeling the coronavirus the ‘China virus,'” CNN concluded.
The media and the Democrats attacked President Trump for his China travel ban. The Atlantic, on February 18, slammed “Trump’s Nationalistic Response to the Coronavirus.” The President was stoking “fears that foreigners entering the United States bring disease,” the magazine complained. The Western media coverage was much in line with the official Chinese propaganda. “Misguided travel ban wrong way to respond to coronavirus,” the Communist Party mouthpiece China Daily agreed.
[Cover image via YouTube]
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Comments
Of greater interest, how much of the current and ongoing insurrection is being financed with money from China. What advice and counsel have they provided directly or indirectly to the members of the insurrection?
BET Lots……
The first President in a long time to stand, not kneel.
Or bow, as 0bama did to the Arabian princes.
.
Obama is so used to bending over for every one.
The picture you have is for China Airlines, which is a Taiwanese airline, NOT a Chinese airline.
Picture has been updated. Thank you, Professor, for getting this updated. All of my inlaws live in Taiwan, so it has that special meaning to me and my family.
I hope that the world stands up to China on Hong Kong and Taiwan.
And I hope to win the lottery
I had misunderstood what our status is. I thought all flights from China were banned in late January.
So, Chinese have been coming in the entire time? Really??
A limited number of flights have continued to run so US Citizens and those with legal status (Green Cards) can be repatriated to the US. The same can be said for Chinese citizens returning to mainland China.
Cue Katy freak out
The President was stoking “fears that foreigners entering the United States bring disease,”
That would be because they do. At least when they come from a country without a good public health program, or someplace with a disease named after them.
PH proram doesn’t matter that much for some bugs, people bring disease from anywhere else really….pathogen populations have significant regional differences that have oft-detrimental impacts on immunity for both the traveler and their destination.
Might want to check the timing on this story. I had heard China banned our flights, then Trump threatened to ban their flights (as above), then China backpedaled and un-banned our flights.
But you know that would make Trump’s actions look effective, and the media hates that.
If I read it correctly in a glance, a headline on FBN a few minutes ago claimed that Trump has eased restrictions on Chinese airlines. Per Fox Business, he’s cutting the number of flights to two, effective immediately.
Don’t offer any deplaning vehicles or stairs for arriving Chinese planes. Without them, it’s a 25-foot drop to the tarmac. The planes will be forced to refuel and fly back to Red China.
I wonder. How many dead at CCP dirction before we can declare human rights violation, and anyone coming from Hong Kong a refugee.
Anti-immigration / anti-immigration? Hardly. Anyone who wants to come here and join us: welcome. Those (“there are thos…”) who want to come here and change us into them, well, there’s a word for that. Several, in fact.
If the CCP is gonna invade n annex, at least make they use the army to do it.
“”anyone coming from Hong Kong a refugee.””
Bad idea. Bad. Bad, bad, bad. Bad.
“Bad idea. Bad. Bad, bad, bad. Bad.”
Why?
The young people in HK actually fly the American flag proudly in their peaceful protests while many of ours burn them.
I think a swap is in order…