Abstract

GONZALEZ GARCIA, Juan; SALAZAR AGUILAR, Andrea  and  SUASTEGUI DIAZ, Marlene Angélica. China: Impact of the “Zero COVID” Policy on the Economy and International Immigration. Méx.cuenca pac [online]. 2023, vol.12, n.36, pp.53-85.  Epub Nov 13, 2023. ISSN 2007-5308.  https://doi.org/10.32870/mycp.v12i36.851.

The article analyses the impact of the implementation of China’s “Zero COVID” policy on the country’s economy and its status as new destination for international migration between 2020 and 2022. From the perspective of economic development and migration theories, the paper first examines the ways in which China’s development policy and strategy, allowed the country to become a center of attraction for international migrants, to then how the anti-COVID-19 measures reverted such process. The article argues that China overturned international immigration, due to its “Zero COVID” policy, which also impacted its economic dynamism from the recent decades. The hypothesis formulated is that the decrease in international migration to China is thus one of the implicit costs of its “Zero COVID “ policy.

Keywords : China; COVID-19; migration; emigration; immigration.