China has tightened controls on diplomatic vehicles, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said on Friday.
The new rules, jointly promulgated last month by the Foreign Ministry and other several ministries, will for the first time control the total number of such vehicles, Geng told a news briefing.
He said the number of diplomatic vehicles has surged in recent decades, and that China will increase oversight of these vehicles and impose harsher punishments on those violating traffic rules.
Security guards patrolling around the embassy area in Beijing in December, 2016. /VCG Photo
The new regulations come after an alleged hit-and-run involving a van belonging to the US embassy in Beijing last June.
A female reporter, identified as Chen Lin, working for Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV said a van hit her car on the city's busy third-ring road before driving away.
Police told her the driver might qualify for diplomatic immunity and will be exempt from vehicle inspections and personal interrogation.
She posted her story on Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo, prompting a storm online. Some Internet users shared similar traffic accidents involving diplomatic cars.
Under previous rules, diplomats could not be held legally liable for certain incidents due to diplomatic immunity and would not be fined for traffic offences.
Diplomatic vehicles must comply with Chinese traffic laws in accordance with new regulations which took effect in January, Geng Shuang stressed.
A diplomatic vehicle loaned to someone who is not a diplomat also forfeits its immunity privileges.
The regulations also state that applications for these vehicles will be approved individually and the owners are required to buy third-party liability insurance for an insured amount of at least 1 million yuan (147,000 US dollars).
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