What's missing from the national debates on the Covid test for Chinese passengers?

I'd like to share some personal thoughts here on the recent debates on the Covid tests for passengers from China. I have been thinking, besides the official health requirements, is there anything missing in the public messages in the past weeks?

For weeks, Chinese Australians have watched the incredible development of the situation in China closely, worrying about families, friends, and other associates. They have shared the best information and experiences they have encountered about this disease, trying to comfort their beloved ones' anxiety about the almost overnight reversion of the Covid-zero policy and mitigate their growing concerns of watching how fast the infections have been spread. Some Chinese Australians even rushed to pharmacies for medicines and health products and posted to their beloved ones, bearing the potential stigma of creating medicine shortages locally. 

Rather than immediately seeing visitors from another country as patients or potential patients, and rather than leaving all the relation-managing words at the formal diplomatic occasions between leaders, how about we simply spare some nice words to show our kindness and care, probably using common sense as how we treat an ill friend.

When our family and friends get sick, what do we say to them? 

We say “sorry to hear that - how are you?”; we say “ I wish you get better soon”; and we say “is there anything I can help with?”

How about saying "we understand many Chinese Australians are worried about their families and friends in China, and our thoughts are with you".  

How about "we have built a great capacity to manufacture vaccines, and we have many devoted medical professionals with invaluable experience treating Covid, and we would like to share or offer help if needed."

How about saying "we do hope those measures would be temporary as we believe we all learn to manage this disease better and will move toward living with covid"?

Our leaders talk about how we are concerned to get any new variant to our country; they talk about how China's situation would affect our tourism and supply chain. They talk about WHO's response and defend their decisions. They address the concerns of many audience groups but seem less engaged with people who genuinely care about the situation - Chinese Australians.

Actually, for the past weeks, among all the Chinese Australian friends I've talked to, everyone asked each other how their families were doing in China.

If you remember, when the news of the severe Covid break in India reached our shores last year, our leaders first responded by punishing Australian Indians returning home with up to five years in jail and fines after the temporary flight bans were announced. At least till the election, many people in the Indian community could not forget how they were treated with cold language and tones at arguably the most difficult times of their migrant life. 

We rightfully deal with issues with measures, but there are always people behind those issues that we should really care about.

Yes, we should always ensure to protect the community and people's life here. A bit of care and empathy in our attitude, language, and gesture, probably toward Australian Chinese, including over 100k Chinese students who are here with us rather than with their families who might be sick, will not weaken our border stance. It just warms, and it goes a long way.