China’s people-to-people exchanges will diminish

Significance The government has eased inbound travel restrictions, but China’s intelligence and security services are warning of foreign espionage -- in line with broader anti-foreign and nationalist sentiment fomented by state media narratives -- and data security laws continue to tighten. Meanwhile, violent attacks on foreigners appear to have increased. Impacts Restrictions on Chinese engagement with foreigners will likely not be relaxed. Bureaucracy will continue to limit opportunities for foreigners to study at Chinese universities and engage with local experts. Foreign organisations -- especially Japanese and US -- will factor low albeit growing xenophobic violence into risk mitigation planning.