More students from Thailand enter China

Chinese ambassador Han Zhiqiang is making good on his promise that students from Thailand would be one of the first groups allowed to return to China when the country reopened. This week more students returned to class in China for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic closed classrooms all over the world.

Han said in August his education counsellors were coordinating between Thai students and Chinese schools to help the kingdom’s scholars return once Covid-19 is fully brought under control.

“If the Chinese government is ready to allow hundreds of thousands of international students to return, Thai students will be among the first.”

Hundreds of thousands of Thai students may not have returned as yet but there are encouraging signs. Yesterday the Thai-Chinese Students Association (TCSA) revealed that almost 700 students from Thailand are in the mainland continuing classes after their studies were interrupted over two years ago because of Covid-19.

TCSA adviser Rhonnakorn Rojjanakatanyoo revealed in the Bangkok Post that the association has been helping Thai students to return to China since the beginning of this year. The Chinese embassy in Bangkok approved long-term study visas for 75 Thai students in February.

“Even though it was only 75 students out of a thousand applicants, it was better than nothing because, according to the regulations at the time, no one could receive visa approval as the long-term study visa was not open for registration.

“The students needed to stay in state quarantine for 14 days plus another seven days either at home or [elsewhere] in their city.”

In June, China accepted another 129 scholars and on August 22, the Chinese embassy reopened long-term study (X1) visas. The 242 names put forward by the TCSA were approved by the mainland and they flew to China on September 20.

Rhonnakorn revealed that the fourth group of 232 students was approved on Tuesday taking the total to 678.

“Although the Chinese embassy restarted the X1 visa in August, the airfares were too high for some students to purchase. The association provided a charter flight to ease their financial cost,” he said. He said the association will arrange for the fifth batch of 260 students to fly to China on October 25. It is also eyeing a sixth group to travel back there on November 10.”

Students will need to spend seven days in an isolation facility and then monitor their health at home for a further three days before they can walk the streets or indeed enter a classroom.

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