SEOUL: China suspended issuing short-term visas to South Koreans and Japanese on Tuesday, its embassies in Seoul and Tokyo said, in apparent retaliation for restrictions imposed on Chinese travellers over Covid concerns.

The measure was announced first in South Korea, which has introduced a host of new rules for visitors from China, including visa restrictions and testing requirements.

It joined more than a dozen countries that have imposed new travel rules over worries of surging Covid-19 infections in China.

“Chinese embassies and consulates in Korea will suspend the issuance of short-term visas for Korean citizens,” Beijing’s embassy in Seoul said.

It said the measures would be “adjusted again in line with South Korea’s removal of the discriminatory entry restrictions on China”. China currently issues no tourist visas and requires a negative Covid test for all arrivals.

Beijing’s embassy in Tokyo announced in a brief statement late on Tuesday that the issuing of visas for Japanese citizens would also be halted, giving no specific reason or indication of how long the measure would last. Seoul is also capping flights from China, and travellers from the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau must test negative before departure. Seoul’s foreign minister has defended the measures as being “in accordance with scientific evidence”.

Mainland visitors are also being tested on arrival and are required to quarantine for a week if they test positive, authorities have said.

Japan will now require arrivals from mainland China and Macau to test before travel and on arrival, a measure not currently required of other travellers. Flights from the mainland can only land at specific airports, although Hong Kong arrivals are exempt from the new rules.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2023