China "Regret over Extension of South Korea Visa Issuance Restrictions... Not Helpful for Exchanges"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] On the 30th, the Chinese government expressed regret over South Korea's recent extension of restrictions on issuing visas for Chinese nationals to visit Korea.

Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated at a regular briefing that "this does not help the exchange, interaction, and cooperation between the peoples of the two countries." He added, "We hope South Korea will promptly cancel this unreasonable behavior," and emphasized, "China wishes to take corresponding measures to facilitate the movement of the peoples of both countries based on this."

He reaffirmed the previous position that the retaliatory measures, including the suspension of short-term visa issuance for Koreans traveling to China, were "corresponding measures."

Spokesperson Mao explained, "In January this year, individual countries announced temporary quarantine measures for arrivals from China," and "China took relevant measures based on the principle of 'equivalence' in response to different situations."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

As COVID-19 cases surged explosively in China, our government implemented a measure from the 2nd of this month until the 31st to suspend the issuance of short-term visas for travel to Korea at Chinese diplomatic missions. Exceptions were made only for visits related to diplomatic and official duties, essential business operations, and humanitarian reasons. In response, the Chinese government retaliated by suspending the issuance of short-term visas for Koreans traveling to China. At the same time, China also suspended short-term visa issuance for Japanese nationals. Despite these retaliatory measures by China, our government decided on the 27th to extend the suspension of short-term visa issuance for Chinese nationals until the 28th of next month.

However, the Chinese government lifted the suspension of visa issuance for Japanese nationals the day before. Since the Japanese government did not impose visa issuance restrictions to block Chinese nationals from entering Japan, this move is interpreted as a response to criticism of overreaction.

Spokesperson Mao stated, "We consistently oppose the politicization of COVID-19 prevention measures," and emphasized, "We want to stress the need to eliminate discriminatory restrictions against China."