China Says Hong Kong Border to Start Reopening from Sunday

(FILE PHOTO) A general view of village houses at Hong Kong border facing the skyscrapers in Shenzhen, in Hong Kong, China. (REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo)
(FILE PHOTO) A general view of village houses at Hong Kong border facing the skyscrapers in Shenzhen, in Hong Kong, China. (REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo)
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China Says Hong Kong Border to Start Reopening from Sunday

(FILE PHOTO) A general view of village houses at Hong Kong border facing the skyscrapers in Shenzhen, in Hong Kong, China. (REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo)
(FILE PHOTO) A general view of village houses at Hong Kong border facing the skyscrapers in Shenzhen, in Hong Kong, China. (REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo)

China will begin normalizing travel between the mainland and Hong Kong from Sunday, Beijing announced Thursday, easing painful pandemic restrictions that have kept the border mostly sealed for almost three years.

All but three of Hong Kong's 12 crossings with the mainland have been closed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, AFP said.

Both Hong Kong and China stuck to zero-Covid policies in which strict travel curbs and mandatory quarantine rules caused arrivals to plummet.

The measures kept families separated, cut-off tourism and severed most business travel, with Hong Kong hit especially hard and ending 2022 in a deep recession.

China U-turned on its zero-Covid strategy last month, abruptly lifting restrictions that had torpedoed the economy and sparked nationwide protests.

On Thursday China's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office announced that travel will "gradually and orderly resume" from Sunday -- the same day China scraps mandatory quarantine for overseas arrivals.

However the measures are not a return to a full reopening.

People travelling to the mainland from Hong Kong will still be required to present a negative nucleic acid test result taken 48 hours before departure -- a requirement Beijing has criticized other countries for adopting this week as the mainland's infections have surged.

Immigration authorities will start resuming visas for mainlanders to travel to Hong Kong and Macau "according to the epidemic situation and service capacities" in the two locales, the announcement said.

The statement did not say how many checkpoints would be reopened, or whether there would be a daily quota on border crossings.

Hong Kong's government will hold a press conference later on Thursday.

Local Hong Kong media have reported in recent days that the first phase of the border reopening will see a daily quota of 50,000-100,000 at border crossings.



Iran Says it Would Resume Nuclear Talks with US if Guaranteed No Further Attacks

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia June 23, 2025. Sputnik/Sergei Karpukhin/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia June 23, 2025. Sputnik/Sergei Karpukhin/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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Iran Says it Would Resume Nuclear Talks with US if Guaranteed No Further Attacks

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia June 23, 2025. Sputnik/Sergei Karpukhin/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia June 23, 2025. Sputnik/Sergei Karpukhin/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Iran’s foreign minister said Saturday that his country would accept a resumption of nuclear talks with the US if there were assurances of no more attacks against it, state media reported.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a speech to Tehran-based foreign diplomats that Iran has always been ready and will be ready in the future for talks about its nuclear program, but, “assurance should be provided that in case of a resumption of talks, the trend will not lead to war.”

Referring to the 12-day Israeli bombardment of Iran's nuclear and military sites, and the US strike on June 22, Araghchi said that if the US and others wish to resume talks with Iran, "first of all, there should be a firm guarantee that such actions will not be repeated. The attack on Iran's nuclear facilities has made it more difficult and complicated to achieve a solution based on negotiations.”

Following the strikes, Iran suspended cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, which led to the departure of inspectors.

Araghchi said that under Iranian law, the country will answer the agency’s request for cooperation "case by case,” based on Iran’s interests. He also said any inspection by the agency should be done based on Iran's “security” concerns as well as the safety of the inspectors. “The risk of proliferation of radioactive ingredients and an explosion of ammunition that remains from the war in the attacked nuclear sites is serious,” he said.

"The risk of spreading radioactive materials and the risk of exploding leftover munitions ... are serious," he added.

"For us, IAEA inspectors approaching nuclear sites has both a security aspect ... and the safety of the inspectors themselves is a matter that must be examined."

He also reiterated Iran's position on the need to continue enriching uranium on its soil. US President Donald Trump has insisted that cannot happen.

Israel claims it acted because Tehran was within reach of a nuclear weapon. US intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency had assessed Iran last had an organized nuclear weapons program in 2003, though Tehran had been enriching uranium up to 60% — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in an interview published Monday said the US airstrikes so badly damaged his country’s nuclear facilities that Iranian authorities still have not been able to access them to survey the destruction.