China stops issuing short-term visas to South Koreans in retaliation for the travel restrictions

Hong Kong
CNN
–

Chinese authorities They stopped issuing certain visas to South Koreans and Japanese Nationals as Beijing retaliates against recent Covid entry restrictions on arrivals from China.

“Work, tourism, medical treatment, transit and general private affairs visas for South Korean citizens will be suspended from today,” the Chinese embassy in Seoul said in a statement on Tuesday. The embassy added that the procedures would be “adjusted” if South Korea removed its “discriminatory” restrictions on entering China.

The Chinese Embassy in Tokyo said later that day that it would suspend the issuance of normal visas to Japanese nationals, with service resuming “in the future”.

These restrictions represent the first retaliation from China against the restrictions and checks imposed on travelers from China. A number of countries have moved to require testing from travelers from China in recent weeks, citing concerns about the latter country wave of infections – And limited data About the outbreak – after Beijing The strict Covid controls were dropped last month.

South Korea went a step further on January 2 by suspending short-term visa applications from its consulates in China until the end of the month. It also requires people traveling from China to take a PCR test within 24 hours of their arrival and remain in isolation until receiving negative results.

From January 5, it also required people traveling from China to present a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours of departure or a rapid antigen test taken within 24 hours.

Since last Saturday, South Korea has also required people traveling from Hong Kong and Macau to provide evidence of a negative Covid-19 test result – either from a PCR test taken within 48 hours before departure, or a rapid antigen test taken within 24 hours. hour before travel.

Japan began requirements for all people who had traveled from or been in mainland China in the previous seven days on December 30, with anyone who tested positive required to self-quarantine for seven days and undergo further testing.

On Monday, the government also announced that from January 12, all travelers arriving from Chinese territory in Macau by direct flight will be required to present a negative Covid-19 test result conducted within 72 hours of departure and take a Covid-19 test upon arrival. .

China’s move followed a phone call Monday between Foreign Minister Chen Gang and his South Korean counterpart Park Jin, during which Chen expressed concern about the restrictions and urged Seoul to take an “objective and scientific” approach, according to a readout from China. side.

Both countries made official comments about the situation during regular briefings on Tuesday, with the South Korean side saying that the Covid-related restrictions on travelers from China were “scientifically and objectively based”.

South Korea’s foreign ministry spokesman, Lim Soo-suk, said the government has been “transparently sharing relevant information with the international community, and has continued communication with the Chinese side.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin echoed the earlier language, saying the country “resolutely opposes” the “discriminatory” entry restrictions on Chinese travelers and “will take proportionate countermeasures.”

“A few countries, while ignoring scientific facts and the actual epidemiological situation in China, continued to impose discriminatory entry restrictions… We call on these countries to put in place appropriate anti-epidemic measures based on facts and science, not to engage in political manipulation and discriminatory actions, and to influence exchanges.” Normal individuals and cooperation.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi also protested China’s decision, saying that Tokyo had asked Beijing through diplomatic channels to cancel the move.

“It is very unfortunate that China has decided to restrict (visa) issuance for reasons other than counter-measures against the COVID-19 virus,” Hayashi, who is on a diplomatic trip through the Americas, told reporters in Argentina on Tuesday.

The move comes just days after China dramatically eased tough border restrictions that required all arrivals into the country, both Chinese citizens and eligible foreigners, to undergo 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 mandated Covid-19 testing for travelers from China, citing concerns about the level of data reporting from the country and the possibility of new variants of the virus emerging there. No such variants have been reported.

Some health experts around the world have also criticized targeted travel screening as ineffective and have expressed concern that such measures may fuel racism and xenophobia.

Top global health officials on Tuesday reiterated calls for China – as well as the rest of the world – to provide details about the sequence of the coronavirus in circulation.

“We need to share more sequences on publicly available databases like GISAID so there can be analysis by experts around the world,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19, said at a regular briefing.

She noted that many of the “high-income countries” that were “critical” in China also need to share the sequences so that the scientific community can track the coronavirus.