BEIJING (AP) — China on Tuesday suspended issuing visas to South Koreans to come to the country for tourism or business in apparent retaliation for South Korea’s COVID-19 testing requirements for Chinese travelers, according to a notice issued by the Chinese Embassy in Seoul.
Japan’s Kyodo News service said the ban would also affect Japanese travellers. A Japanese Foreign Ministry official said the government was aware of the report and was holding unofficial discussions with Chinese officials about the measures Beijing was considering. It would be “regrettable” if restrictions were imposed, the official said, speaking on the usual condition of anonymity.
The brief notice, posted on the embassy’s WeChat account, said the ban will continue until South Korea lifts its “discriminatory measures on entry from China” into the country.
No further details were given, although China threatened to retaliate. against countries that require travelers from China to present a negative test result for COVID-19 taken within the previous 48 hours. The announcement appeared to apply only to new applicants and said nothing about South Koreans with visas.
The denial of visas to Korean or Japanese businessmen could delay the resumption of full-fledged business activity and potential new investments following the abrupt lifting of virus controls by China.
Business groups earlier warned that global companies were steering their investment plans away from China because it was too difficult for foreign leaders to get there. A handful of foreign auto and other executives have visited China in the past three years, but companies have relied on Chinese employees or managers already in the country to run their operations.
A South Korean restaurant owner in Beijing said the announcement forced friends to postpone plans to visit China. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear that his business could be affected. He added that he is preparing to renew his own Chinese work visa and does not know if this will be affected.
China has yet to say when it might resume issuing tourist visas on a large scale.
In a phone call with his South Korean counterpart, Park Jin, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang “expressed concern” about the measures taken by South Korea and said he “hopes the party Korea will maintain an objective and scientific attitude”.
China’s decision appears to be based on its demands that its citizens be treated the same as those of other countries. A dozen countries have followed the United States in requiring negative tests for travelers from China, which lifted most of its “zero-COVID” restrictions for the first time in three years but is also experiencing a major outbreak. since last month.
In a daily briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin defended China’s anti-pandemic measures, adding that “Unfortunately, a handful of countries, in defiance of science and facts and national reality, have insisted on taking discriminatory entry restriction measures against China. China firmly rejected this and took reciprocal measures.
Wang did not respond directly to questions about the suspension of visa issuance for South Koreans and Japanese, saying only that he had “made it very clear”.
The World Health Organization and several countries have accused China of withholding data on its hatching. The testing requirements are aimed at identifying potential variants of the virus carried by travellers.
China’s ambassador to Australia said these countries’ response to the COVID-19 outbreak in China has been neither proportionate nor constructive.
Xiao Qian told reporters in Canberra that China changed its strategy late last year from preventing infections to preventing serious cases. He said countries should use a science-based response.
“Entry restrictions, if they are aimed at China, they are useless,” the ambassador told reporters.
“If you look at other countries around the world and their policies toward China, I mean, their responsible actions toward China (are) not constructive. It’s not based on science. It’s not proportionate,” he said.
The online notice to the Seoul embassy did not explain why China singled out South Korea for retaliation, though the deeply nationalist government of President and Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has long resented the alliance. of Seoul with the United States.
Once-cordial ties between South Korea and its biggest trading partner soured after China targeted businesses, sports teams and even K-pop groups to protest the deployment of an advanced US anti-missile system in South Korea. China fought alongside North Korea in the 1950-53 war and remained a supporter of Pyongyang amid its missile launches and nuclear tests, and opposed new sanctions on the regime diehard communist of Kim Jong Un.
China abruptly rolled back its strict pandemic containment requirements last month in response to what it says is the changing nature of the outbreak. It came after three years of lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing that have prompted street protests in Beijing and other major cities not seen in three decades.
The most optimistic forecasts indicate that China’s business and consumer activity could pick up as early as the first quarter of this year. But before that happens, entrepreneurs and families are facing painful pressure from a rise in virus cases that has left employers without enough healthy workers and kept wary customers away from malls, restaurants, hair salons and gymnasiums.
Xi’s government’s abrupt decision to end controls that have shuttered factories and kept millions at home will hasten the timetable for economic recovery, but could disrupt activity this year as businesses scramble to adapt, according to forecasters.
China now faces rising cases and hospitalizations in major cities and is preparing for further spread in less developed areas with the start of the Lunar New Year travel rush, which is expected to begin in the coming days. While international flights are still curtailed, authorities say they expect domestic rail and air journeys to double from the same time last year, bringing overall numbers back to those of the holiday season from 2019, before the pandemic hit.
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Associated Press writer Joe McDonald in Beijing contributed to this report.
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