Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – China warmed up to South Korea (ROK) and Japan. President Xi Jinping’s government has even meted out “punishments” on the two countries.
As of Tuesday, the Chinese government will stop granting short-term visas to people from South Korea and Japan. This is in response to the Covid-19 restrictions for travelers from China.
“Chinese embassies and consulates in Korea will stop issuing short-term visas to Korean citizens,” he said in a statement quoted Tuesday AFP extensionWednesday (1/11/2023).
Previously, South Korea had already tightened its borders on travelers from China, including from the two special autonomous cities of Hong Kong and Macau. They must test negative for Covid-19 before travel and be retested upon arrival.
Positive residents are required to quarantine for a week. An incident also occurred when a Chinese national who tested positive upon arrival in Seoul refused to be quarantined and fled.
This sparked a two-day manhunt that dominated South Korean headlines. Police finally found the Chinese national who was described as a medical tourist.
According to official data, 2,224 Chinese nationals on short-term visas have landed in South Korea since January 2. A total of 17.5% tested positive upon arrival.
South Korea actually limited issuing short-term visas to Chinese nationals first. But that excludes civil servants, diplomats and those with important humanitarian and business ends, through the end of January.
“We inevitably have to strengthen some anti-epidemic measures to prevent the virus from spreading in our country due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in China,” South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said last December.
Note that in 2019 and 2020, tourists from China accounted for the largest proportion of all foreign tourists visiting South Korea. That is to say, each reached 34.4% and 27.2%.
But the number of Chinese tourists dropped significantly in 2022, from 6.02 million in 2019 to 200,000 from January to November. According to data from the Ministry of Culture, only 7.5% of all tourists come from abroad.
Japan
Shortly after South Korea, the Chinese embassy in Japan then announced a similar move. In Tokyo, the Chinese representative said that the mission and consulates have suspended issuing visas since Tuesday.
“This step was taken soon after Japan tightened its Covid-19 rules for travelers arriving directly from China, specifying a negative result from a PCR test taken less than 72 hours before departure. Including a negative test all ‘arrival in Japan,” the media said. he wrote. Japan Times.
To collect Kyodo News, a Tokyo travel agency said it can’t apply for almost any type of Chinese visa. Reservations for visa procedures are currently not available.
“The latest step is expected to affect Japanese business operations in China, with workers unable to travel from Japan,” the agency said, citing media outlets.
“We had to reschedule our business trip to China,” said an official at a Japanese manufacturing company.
China’s Revenge?
Meanwhile, yesterday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the Beijing government resolutely opposes entry restrictions the. He claimed that he was discriminating.
He called on affected countries not to “engage in political manipulation,” saying it affected trade and cooperation between China and those countries.
Not only South Korea and Japan, in fact, have implemented the same policy towards Chinese travellers. This has also been done by other countries such as the United States (USA), Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain.
The increase in Covid-19 cases in China is not considered transparent. Where China has stopped publishing clinical cases since December and narrowed the definition of death from Covid-19.
This also led to protests from the WHO. However, it should be noted that similar restrictions were implemented by all countries when the Covid-19 outbreak was severe in 2020-2021.
Next article
Jreng.. Japan hot in China, ready to launch 1,000 missiles
(sef/sef)
