Hong Kong CNN —
Chinese authorities have stopped issuing certain visas to South Koreans and Japanese Citizens as Beijing retaliates on recent Covid entry restrictions on arrivals from China.
“Visas for business, tourism, medical treatment, transit and general private affairs will be suspended for South Korean citizens starting today,” the Chinese embassy in Seoul said in a statement Tuesday. The measures would be “adjusted” if South Korea lifts its “discriminatory” entry restrictions on China, the embassy added.
The Chinese embassy in Tokyo said later that day it would suspend issuing ordinary visas to Japanese citizens, with the resumption of service “notified in the future”.
The restrictions mark China’s first retaliatory measures against restrictions and controls imposed on travelers from China. A number of countries have opted to require testing of travelers from China in recent weeks, citing concerns about the country’s recent spike in infections – and limited data on the outbreak – after Beijing last month announced its strict Covid restrictions. had set controls.
South Korea went a step further on Jan. 2, suspending short-term visa applications from its consulates in China until the end of the month. Also, people arriving from China must take a PCR test within 24 hours of arrival and remain isolated until they receive negative results.
From Jan. 5, it also requires travelers from China to present a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours before departure or a rapid antigen test taken within 24 hours.
Since last Saturday, South Korea has also required travelers from Hong Kong and Macau to provide evidence of a negative Covid-19 test result – either by a PCR test performed within 48 hours of departure or a rapid antigen test performed within 24 hours of departure to travel.
Japan has introduced requirements for anyone who has traveled to or stayed in mainland China in the previous seven days as of December 30, requiring anyone who tests positive to quarantine for seven days and undergo further testing.
On Monday, the government also announced that from January 12, all travelers arriving by direct flight from the Chinese territory of Macau will be required to present a negative Covid-19 test result taken within 72 hours of departure, and to undergo a Covid-19 test on arrival.
China’s move follows a Monday phone call between Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his South Korean counterpart Park Jin, during which Qin expressed “concern” about the restrictions and urged Seoul to take an “objective and scientific” approach, according to an advert by the Chinese site.
Both countries issued official comments on the situation during regular briefings on Tuesday, with the South Korean side saying its Covid-related restrictions on travelers from China “are based on scientific and objective reasons”.
South Korea’s foreign ministry spokesman Lim Soo-suk said the government has “transparently shared relevant information with the international community and has continued to communicate with the Chinese side.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, echoing China’s earlier language, said the country “strongly opposes” “discriminatory” entry restrictions on Chinese travelers and “will take appropriate countermeasures.”
“Some countries, disregarding scientific facts and the actual epidemic situation in China, have continued to impose discriminatory entry restrictions… We call on these countries to develop appropriate pandemic control measures based on facts and science and not engage in political manipulation, discriminatory measures.” and disrupt normal staff exchanges and collaboration,” he said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi also protested China’s decision, saying Tokyo had asked Beijing through diplomatic channels to reverse the move.
“It is extremely unfortunate that China has decided to limit the issuance of (visas) for reasons other than Covid-19 countermeasures,” Hayashi, who is on a diplomatic tour of America, told reporters in Argentina on Tuesday.
The move comes just days after China significantly eased strict border controls, which required all those entering the country, whether Chinese nationals or eligible foreigners, to undergo multiple Covid-19 tests and mandatory hotel quarantine.
In recent weeks, more than a dozen countries including the United States, France, Canada, Japan and Australia have ordered Covid-19 testing for travelers from China, raising concerns about the volume of data reporting from the country and the potential for new variants Led by China the virus originated there. So far, no such variants have been reported.
Some health experts around the world have also criticized targeted travel controls as ineffective and raised concerns that such measures could fuel racism and xenophobia.
Top global health officials on Tuesday repeatedly urged China — along with the rest of the world — to provide details of circulating coronavirus sequences.
“We need more sequences shared in publicly available databases like GISAID so experts around the world can do an analysis,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s technical lead on Covid-19, at a regular briefing.
She noted that many of the “high-income countries” that have been “critical” of China also need to share sequences for the scientific community to track the coronavirus.