“However, China has restricted visa issuance for political reasons unrelated to the Covid-19 pandemic. We are regretful for this and have protested through diplomatic channels, demanding that China withdraw this measure,” the office posted on Twitter on Wednesday.
It also urged China to provide “more accurate data” amid an ongoing outbreak that followed the end of its zero-Covid policy, which was characterised by lockdowns, mass testing and a lack of international travel.
02:50
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“In the past, our country has also established entry measures for each country and region based on the situation of infection in each country and region,” the Japanese mission said, referring to restrictions imposed in the early days of the pandemic.
South Korea has gone a step further than Japan and stopped issuing tourist visas for all travellers from China until January 31 – a move that the Chinese foreign ministry called “unacceptable” and “unscientific”.
Flights between South Korea and China, including Hong Kong and Macau, are limited to Seoul’s Incheon International Airport, with flights bound for Busan, Daegu and Jeju suspended.
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The Chinese embassy in Seoul said the visa suspension was triggered by “South Korea’s discriminatory entry restrictions on China”, but would allow some exemptions such as short-term family reunion visas for foreign nationals with permanent residence and short-term study visas.
“It is regrettable that a small number of countries still insist on adopting discriminatory entry restrictions against China in disregard of scientific facts and the actual situation of the pandemic in their own countries. China firmly opposes this and will take reciprocal measures,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday.
Beijing vowed retaliatory measures when requirements on China-origin travellers were first imposed by countries such as Britain, Italy and the United States. As of Tuesday, visas for business, tourism, medical treatment, transit and general private affairs were suspended for South Koreans.
