China's foreign ministry has defended the country's Covid-19 containment strategy and accused the US of making "groundless accusations" over its coronavirus controls.
"We express strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to the groundless accusation by the US side about China's epidemic prevention policy ... and have lodged solemn representations with the US side," foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Saturday night.
Zhao said Beijing's epidemic prevention measures were "scientific and effective" and Chinese authorities had helped foreign diplomats and consulate employees "as much as possible within the scope" of its Covid-19 measures.
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"We have full confidence in Shanghai and other places to overcome the new round of outbreaks," he said.
On Friday, the United States issued a travel alert warning for China over Covid-19-related restrictions, including the risk of parents and children being separated.
The US has also allowed non-essential government employees and their families to leave Shanghai - the epicentre of China's worst Covid-19 outbreak in the two years of the pandemic - and has closed its consular section in the city.
"Ambassador [Nicholas] Burns and other department and mission officials have raised our concerns regarding the outbreak and the PRC's control measures directly with PRC officials, and we have informed them about the voluntary departure decision," the US embassy in China said on Saturday, referring to the People's Republic of China.
While some countries have decided to coexist with the virus, China is committed to eliminating Covid-19 through a "dynamic zero-Covid" strategy involving strict lockdowns and mass testing.
European diplomats have also raised concern over such measures, particularly the possibility of families being separated for quarantine and medical care.
Shanghai has been under a lockdown for more than a week, with the number of Covid-19 cases rising daily.
Nearly all of the city's 25 million residents have been confined to their homes and many have struggled to get food and other essentials.
The municipal government has yet to announce when it will lift the citywide lockdown.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2022 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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