How will rows over Covid-19 visa restrictions affect China’s ties with Japan and South Korea?

Name: Chinese national complains about South Korea’s targeted Covid-19 curbs for arrivals from China
Uploaded: 2023-01-14T07:00:12.000Z
Duration: 3 min 16 s
Description: Chinese national complains about South Korea’s targeted Covid-19 curbs for arrivals from China

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South Korean health workers guide travellers arriving from China at a Covid-19 testing centre at Incheon International Airport on January 3. Photo: AFP

Seong Hyeon Choi

Published: 3:00pm, 14 Jan 2023Updated: 4:46pm, 14 Jan 2023

China’s rows with South Korea and Japan over Covid-19 travel curbs may have an impact on diplomatic and economic ties, observers said.

On Tuesday, the Chinese embassies in Seoul and Tokyo announced the suspension of short-term visa issuance for business, tourism, medical treatment and general private affairs to South Korean and Japanese nationals after the two countries imposed travel restrictions on Chinese travellers.

Then, on Wednesday, Beijing suspended the issuance of visa-free transit and border city visas to South Korean and Japanese citizens.

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Chinese national complains about South Korea’s targeted Covid-19 curbs for arrivals from China

Choo Jae-woo, professor of Chinese studies at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, said Beijing’s visa restrictions would have a significant impact on diplomatic and economic ties.

“It means that China will not engage in cultural exchanges that it has emphasised so far, and private exchanges will be completely suspended,” he said.

Li Hao, a research fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs, a think tank based in Tokyo, said China’s retaliatory measures had “poured cold water” on the resumption of travel across East Asia after the Covid-19 pandemic, with cross-border business activities between China and its two most important neighbours to stagnate once again.

“The people currently seeking Chinese visas are not tourists but businesspeople,” he said, adding that the visa bans would be an economic blow for the three countries.