Will China be opening up again soon?

That is the hope after yesterday, when China officially rolled out it’s own version of an international travel health certificate.

On Monday afternoon, China launched its highly anticipated international travel health certificate on WeChat. WeChat is the Chinese controlled social media platform that is widely used around the world. The official announcement was made by the Department of Consular Affairs under the Foreign Ministry (FM) on their official WeChat account.

The international travel health certificate contains an encrypted QR code with the traveler’s personal information. The certificate makes testing information, vaccinations, and antibody results readily available to immigration officials.

China is pushing hard to make this system a part of the international exchanges for international travelers. China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, revealed that they are working to have a mutual recognition system that will allow for the ease of international travelers.

An ease of restrictions and the resuming of international travel cannot come fast enough. The overwhelming majority of international flights to and from China have been canceled due to the tight restrictions. Just in the last week, hundreds of international flights have been canceled because of China’s new regulations requiring crew members for international flights to be quarantined for two weeks – a move that most airlines cannot agree to.

Of course, a health certificate exchange program could also create some future challenges as it relates to security. Any phone application made by China containing your personal data for a health certification exchange should be viewed with great caution.