Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of Chinese Foreign Ministry

China will actively promote the phase-in of a new order marked by healthy and safe personnel exchange amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic via the rollout of a special Chinese version international travel health certificate, which contains an encrypted QR code, the Foreign Ministry (FM) said on Monday.

The health certificate is used to display test results of nucleic acid serum Igm antibody of Chinese outbound personnel, as well as their health information including vaccination status, FM Spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a press conference on Monday.

The certificate has both an electronic version and paper version, containing an encrypted QR code that can be verified and read with a public key, to be provided by the Chinese health authorities, Zhao said.

The remarks followed China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi revealing at a press conference held on the sidelines of the fourth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) on Sunday. Wang said that China will roll out health certificates for international travelers to facilitate safe and orderly flow of personnel, which, while protecting personal privacy, will realize mutual recognition of information on COVID-19 nucleic acid tests and vaccine inoculations.

"The pandemic is still ongoing, the world economy is in urgent need of recovery, and the need to facilitate personnel exchange is also increasingly urgent. Recently, many countries have accelerated the pace of vaccination, and mutual recognition of vaccines has become the core content of international mutual recognition of health codes," Zhao said.

China is willing to address concerns raised by outside parties, coordinate with each country's health code information mutual recognition mechanism, provide each other with visas and other cross-border travel conveniences, and actively promote the establishment of a healthy, safe and orderly order of personnel fly-ins and fly-outs, he added.

Besides, China will launch a "spring sprout vaccine" program to help and secure COVID-19 vaccines for its citizens abroad. China will set up stations for administering Chinese vaccines in countries "equipped with conditions," in order to provide inoculation services for Chinese nationals staying in nearby countries and regions, said Wang.

The minister said that the fact more than 60 countries approved the use of Chinese vaccines has proved their efficacy, and China is willing to have discussions with other countries on mutual recognition of vaccination and how it would work.

In November last year, China had called for the establishment of an international mechanism of health code mutual recognition and welcomed the participation by more countries.