The Mong Cai International Border Gate has reopened for two weeks and the goods trade of border area residents have been busy.

Locals last weekend were seen standing in long queues waiting for their turn to enter China.

Early in the morning, hundreds of people gathered at the subordinate gate of the Mong Cai Border Gate.

After the border gate was opened, they moved to a room waiting for exit and lined up there. Agencies checked documents to ensure their allowed number of entries to China.

After that, they entered Chinese territory to buy consumer goods and re-entered Vietnam. The exist and entry must be done during the day. 

“I go to China to carry goods to Vietnam as I am hired to do this. I am paid VND200,000 or VND300,000 each time depending on the amounts of goods and weight,” said D.T.V, a resident in Tran Phu ward of Mong Cai City.

The number of people registering to exit Vietnam and enter China was high. There were also Chinese people entering Vietnam as travelers. Local officers had to work hard to ensure security and order.

According to Senior Lieutenant Colonel Diep Manh Hao from Mong Cai Border Gate Frontier Post, the border gate resumed its usual operation on March 15.

The people coming to the border gate to enter China for goods exchange are mostly those who have residential books in border areas.

On the first day after the border gate opened, the number of people crossing the border gate was small. However, the figure has been increasing rapidly. 

Hao said, agencies now handle tens of thousands of documents to approve the exit and re-entry of people daily

The people go to China to buy mostly consumer goods (clothes, footwear, garments, toilet papers, tissues and some production tools).

No more than four exits a month are allowed per person and the goods they trade must not be higher than VND2 million each visit.

“In recent days, we fulfilled procedures for 15,000 people, both travelers and border area residents daily,” Hao said.

Prior to that, the border gate was closed as China had followed a ‘zero Covid’ policy. On January 21, China began restoring usual activities, allowing people to cross border gates within the day to trade goods. However, limitations were still imposed on some activities.

Since March 15, all activities at Mong Cai (Vietnam) and Dongxing (China) have been running as usual.

Pham Cong