--- description: Henry Wang Huiyao, adviser to the State Council, said he hopes the country will gradually loosen its strict approach to battling Covid-19. title: China May Start Reopening After Winter Olympics: Top Adviser image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ae353ad3bd04b7c/698a1fcd096a94ac886abfb7/GettyImages-1345617833.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [China](/tag/china/) ## China Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # China May Start Reopening to the World After the Winter Olympics, a Top Adviser Says by [Iain Marlow, Shery Ahn and Haidi Lun / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Iain Marlow, Shery Ahn and Haidi Lun / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 17, 2021 4:14 AM CUT  A board listing COVID-19 countermeasures is seen at the National Speed Skating Oval on day one of the Speed Skating China Open, a test event of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, on October 8, 2021 in Beijing, China A board listing COVID-19 countermeasures is seen at the National Speed Skating Oval on day one of the Speed Skating China Open, a test event of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, on October 8, 2021 in Beijing, ChinaFu Tian/China News Service via Getty Images by [Iain Marlow, Shery Ahn and Haidi Lun / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Iain Marlow, Shery Ahn and Haidi Lun / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 17, 2021 4:14 AM CUT An adviser to China’s government said he hopes the country will gradually loosen its strict approach to battling Covid-19 after Beijing hosts the 2022 Winter Olympics, an event that could facilitate more interaction between global leaders. Henry Wang Huiyao, an adviser to China’s State Council and founder of an influential Chinese think-tank, said closer collaboration between Washington, Beijing and the World Health Organization could help open up his country, which has largely isolated itself as it follows a “Covid Zero” approach to suppressing the virus. Globally, infections are [rising again](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-16/new-zealand-issues-passes-new-york-warns-on-cases-virus-update "undefined") as the world enters its third year with the virus that has killed more than 5.1 million people. Wang called for more coordinated action on controlling the outbreak. “There’s a lack of leadership on the global fighting of the pandemic,” Wang, president of the Center for China & Globalization, said in an interview from the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore. “There’s a need for having that so we can facilitate travel, the movement of people, and even for Chinese government officials to visit other countries.” Wang said he hopes the country’s strict approach to handling Covid-19 will change and that it will gradually reopen. China is preparing for several major events, including the Olympic Games [starting](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-25/beijing-to-quarantine-unvaccinated-athletes-at-winter-olympics "undefined") in February, making the easing of restrictions unlikely before then. “I hope that after the Beijing Olympics, we will see something happening,” Wang said. Speaking the same week that President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for a virtual summit, Wang added he hoped the U.S. leader would be able to visit the opening ceremony of the games. “We hope that could be another occasion for the two presidents to meet,” he said. —_With assistance from Krystal Chia_ --- ### More from TIME --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6120431/china-covid-travel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6120431/china-covid-travel/"},"headline":"China May Start Reopening to the World After the Winter Olympics, a Top Adviser Says","datePublished":"2021-11-17T04:14:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T10:32:53.033Z","description":"Adviser to the State Council Henry Wang Huiyao said he hopes China will gradually loosen its strict approach to battling Covid-19","url":"https://time.com/6120431/china-covid-travel/","keywords":["China","wire","overnight","COVID-19"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ae353ad3bd04b7c/698a1fcd096a94ac886abfb7/GettyImages-1345617833.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Iain Marlow, Shery Ahn and Haidi Lun / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ae353ad3bd04b7c/698a1fcd096a94ac886abfb7/GettyImages-1345617833.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Speed Skating China Open - Day 1","caption":"Speed Skating China Open - Day 1","creditText":"Fu Tian/China News Service via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/china/","name":"China"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6120431/china-covid-travel/","name":"China May Start Reopening to the World After the Winter Olympics, a Top Adviser Says"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"What It’s Like to Be In the Tokyo Olympics COVID-19 Bubble","description":"At the Tokyo 2020 Games, strict COVID-19 countermeasures are in place for the media, athletes and other Olympics-related personnel, from testing to movement restrictions. 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