Status: 01/10/2023 10:24 am
Because of the corona wave, a number of countries have tightened their entry requirements for visitors from China. The government in Beijing is now reacting with a visa freeze for travelers from Japan and South Korea.
The Chinese government has reacted with the first countermeasures to new corona test regulations from other countries for travelers from China: Entry for people from South Korea and Japan has been restricted. The government in Beijing has stopped issuing short-term visas for tourist and business trips from South Korea for the time being, the Chinese embassy in Seoul announced.
Should South Korea lift its “discriminatory entry restrictions”, the measures would also be adjusted again. Travelers from Japan are also no longer granted entry permits. China has informed the travel agencies, as reported by the Japanese news agency Kyodo.
South Korea: scientific basis for restriction
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in South Korea replied that the restrictions on travelers from China are objective and based on scientific evidence.
Since last month, travelers from mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong have been required to take a corona test before departing and upon arrival in South Korea. Those who test positive must be quarantined for a week. South Korea also suspended the issuance of short-term tourist visas for Chinese until the end of January. Diplomats, government officials or visitors with important humanitarian or business concerns are exempt from the visa restriction.
Japan had also tightened the test requirement for travelers from China: visitors must present a negative PCR test within 72 hours before departure and be tested again on arrival.
Numerous countries, including within the EU, had ordered similar measures. In Germany, too, a test has recently become mandatory for visitors from China.
Corona wave in China
The reason for the entry restrictions is the high number of corona infections in China. The government in Beijing had enforced a strict “No-Covid” policy with lockdowns, quarantines and mass tests for three years. After a wave of protests at the end of 2022, she had turned around and largely ended the corona restrictions. Since then, the number of corona infections in the country has been increasing. Scientists fear the outbreak of new virus variants that could spread worldwide.
According to state media, the corona infections have already passed their peak and the number of new infections is declining. In Henan province, 90 percent of the 100 million inhabitants have already been infected, Kan Quan, head of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention there, told the Health Times newspaper.