While China is seriously trying to get to terms with the end of the zero-Covid policies since the end of December 2022, international business has not been following suit, according to the Financial Times. International business delegations and other foreign visitors have not yet returned to Shanghai, writes the paper.
Fu Cong, China’s ambassador to the European Union expects visits by EU leaders to resume by mid-2023, according to Reuters. Typically, those visits are joined by larger delegations of business executives, visits that have been canceled since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in December 2019. Visits of both European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel are currently being prepared, but the focus might be more on the war in Ukraine, and less on business issues.
Other business-focused delegations along with other state visits might easily take till the second half of 2023 to allow for proper preparation.
