hong kong
CNN
—
Chinese authorities have stopped issuing short-term visas to South Korean citizens as part of the country’s first retaliation against Covid entry restrictions on arrivals from China.
“Visas for business, tourism, medical, transit and general private business will be suspended for South Korean citizens from today,” the Chinese Embassy in Seoul said in a statement. . The measures will be “adjusted” if South Korea lifts its “discriminatory” entry restrictions on China, the embassy added.
Beijing has denounced recent restrictions or checks on travelers from China, whose numbers are expected to increase after a significant easing of border restrictions.
A number of countries have moved to require testing of travelers from China, citing concerns about the country’s recent spike in infections – and limited data on the outbreak – since Beijing abandoned its strict controls. of Covid last month.
South Korea went further on January 2 by suspending applications for short-term visas at its consulates in China until the end of the month. It also requires people from China to take a PCR test within 24 hours of arrival and to remain in isolation until they receive negative results.
Since January 5, it has also asked people traveling from China to present a negative PCR test carried out within 48 hours of departure or a rapid antigen test carried out within 24 hours.
China’s move follows a Monday phone call between Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his South Korean counterpart Park Jin, in which Qin “expressed concern” about the restrictions and urged Seoul to adopt an approach “objective and scientific”, according to a reading of China. side.
In recent weeks, more than a dozen countries, including the United States, France, Canada, Japan and Australia, have imposed tests on travelers from China, but have not limited the issuance of visas.
Earlier this month, China’s Foreign Ministry widely decried the measures as unscientific and pledged to take “corresponding countermeasures for different situations in accordance with the principle of reciprocity.”
