Gaming the mobility regimes during COVID-19 : border-making and crossing between China and Africa

Miao LU, Zhuoxiao XIE*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

Abstract

Transnational border crossing presented new complexities during the COVID-19 pandemic due to a series of emergency measures. Based on in-depth interviews and analysis of policy documents and social media posts, this article examines the border logics and mobility patterns between China and Africa during the pandemic. First, we propose a five-fold typology to map themobility regimes governing Sino-African cross-border travel. Using the ‘medical-political-logistical complex’ as an analytical framework, we then explain how the emergency border apparatus generated new logics of control, coordination, and negotiation in shaping travellers’ (im)mobility. The three-dimensional complex indicates three types of power – medical, political, and logistical, which may cooperate, collude, or conflict with each other in different scenarios. Being deeply politicized and medicalized under the zero-COVID policy, China’s border measures involved large-scale logistical (re)arrangements across multiple destinations. We contend that logistical power was initially dominated by the state but increasingly decentralized by non-state actors with the rise of intermediaries. This intensified the externalization of border control and the commercialization of mobility infrastructures, thereby widening mobility inequality on the one hand while creating space for various actors, including travelers, to game the mobility regimes on the other. Empirically, this study expands the literature on COVID-19 mobilities by presenting new evidence on the heterogeneous transcontinental mobility regimes. Theoretically, it adds a logistical perspective to understand the matrix of power underlying the emergency border apparatus. We also discuss the malleable nature of pandemic borders, which shall hold implications for future research on borders and epidemics.
Original languageEnglish
JournalInformation Communication and Society
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 13 Jan 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Seed Fund from Lingnan University (Project Code:102260).

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • China and Africa
  • Mobility regime
  • border
  • logistics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Gaming the mobility regimes during COVID-19 : border-making and crossing between China and Africa'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this