China has stopped issuing short-term visas to visitors from South Korea and Japan. Beijing took the move in retaliation for the two countries imposing Covid restrictions on arrivals from China. The Chinese embassy in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, said that the entry of South Korean citizens as tourists to China has been stopped. On the other hand, Japanese media reported that China is taking similar steps there as well.
Beijing says that as long as the “discriminatory” restrictions on entry of Chinese visitors to those countries remain in place, it will retaliate by banning their visitors from entering China. Last week, South Korea stopped issuing tourist visas to Chinese arrivals. China’s foreign ministry criticized the move as ‘unacceptable’ and ‘unscientific’.
This time, in response to the move to stop the entry of South Korean citizens into China, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the policy they have taken regarding the arrivals from China is based on science and evidence. Japan, however, is still allowing Chinese visitors into their country. But for this the Chinese have to show the Covid negative certificate.
South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that before the visa restrictions, about one-third of citizens from China tested positive for Covid-19. As a result, visa restrictions on arrivals from China will remain in place at least until the end of this month. And during this period, scientists will have the opportunity to analyze whether there is any possibility of a new type of corona virus coming from China.
Professor Kim Woo-joo, an infectious disease expert at the University of Korea and an adviser to the government, said that there is no transparency in China at the moment in terms of monitoring the new type of corona virus. If a new type emerges from China, it will be a difficult situation for the whole world.
