Wednesday’s announcement by the White House was made after Joe Biden, a candidate for President Donald Trump’s China travel restrictions, suggested that they were xenophobic.

Federal officials stated that the requirement for the test will start Jan. 5, due to insufficient public data about China’s effectiveness at monitoring COVID-19. No matter their nationality, all Chinese travelers will be required to present a negative test no more than two days before they fly. Japan and India have similar restrictions, as China has relaxed its “zero Covid” lockdown policies in recent week. China also requires that travelers from the U.S. test negative.

In January 2020, Trump announced that he would restrict travel from China to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Biden made the same statement on the Iowa campaign trail hours after the announcement. He said that Trump’s record for fear-mongering and hysterical, xenophobia was not the time to lead science.

Biden tweeted, “We must lead the way in science — not Donald Trump’s record of fear-mongering, hysteria and xenophobia.”

1776 Coalition Sponsored George Soros’ Goons came to my District George Soros sent his goons into my district to hold a fake townhall meeting. This is Rep. Jack Bergman. They didn’t invite me, but they used an empty chair as a prop while they attacked my support for DOGE and America First policies. If you’re tired of Soros-funded leftists attempting to sabotage America’s future, then please help me keep up the fight in Congress.

Trump banned travel from Europe in March 2020. Biden responded with a tweet declaring that “a wall won’t stop the coronavirus.” However, Biden changed its public position regarding travel restrictions in the weeks following.

Biden’s team claimed that Trump’s comments about xenophobia weren’t about travel policies, several weeks after Europe restrictions.

A campaign spokesperson told The Washington Post that this was not a reference to coronavirus travel restrictions. Travel restrictions can be justified if supported by science and advocated by public officials in health. Travel restrictions can be a way to buy time, but Trump took that time to make America less prepared for the disease.

Biden’s April 2020 campaign endorsed Trump’s China restrictions.

Kate Bedingfield, Biden deputy campaign manager at the time, stated that “Science supported this ban”, therefore [Biden] also did.”

The White House did no immediate respond to a request for comment.