https://www.scmp.com/rss/514690/feed On January 10, Chinese embassies in Seoul and Tokyo announced that Beijing would stop issuing short-term visas for South Korean and Japanese citizens entering China, in response to travel restrictions the two countries placed on Chinese travellers after a surge in Covid-19 infections in China. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Fan Chen Fan Chen South Korea has rolled out a temporary visa waiver programme for Chinese tour groups in the latest effort to help strengthen fragile ties. From September 29, members of Chinese tour groups will be allowed to enter South Korea without a visa until June 30 next year, the office of Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said on Wednesday. It is the first time that South Korea has allowed travel visa exemptions for Chinese tour groups, regardless of point of entry. Previously, only Jeju Island offered such... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3320983/chinese-tourists-offered-visa-free-entry-south-korea-september?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3320983/chinese-tourists-offered-visa-free-entry-south-korea-september?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Aug 2025 11:19:38 +0000 I never expected that foreigners could become the strongest “spokespeople” for China. On YouTube, I’ve come across video headlines such as “CHINA is NOT what we expected”, “I Was Wrong About China...So I Came Back” and “The Media Doesn’t Want You To See THIS in China” made by foreign vloggers - some of whom have many followers. A China travel rush is under way, thanks in part to China rolling out a visa-free 24-hour transit policy for people from other countries around the world at all of its... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3274706/some-chinas-best-cultural-ambassadors-are-foreign-vloggers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3274706/some-chinas-best-cultural-ambassadors-are-foreign-vloggers?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Aug 2024 21:30:09 +0000 China has said multiple-year multi-entry visas issued before the pandemic will remain suspended despite an appeal by tens of thousands of Chinese-Americans to reinstate all visas issued in the past. A reciprocal arrangement between the two countries allows them to issue 10-year multiple-entry visas to each others’ citizens, an arrangement that has proved particularly popular with Chinese-Americans. However, some Chinese Americans told the South China Morning Post that they were given the option... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3207666/china-refuses-lift-suspension-multiple-entry-visas-despite-appeal-thousands-chinese-americans?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3207666/china-refuses-lift-suspension-multiple-entry-visas-despite-appeal-thousands-chinese-americans?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Jan 2023 11:00:11 +0000 China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Wednesday that “discriminatory, unscientific and excessive” measures by South Korea and Japan had triggered Beijing’s retaliatory visa ban on the two nations. Speaking in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on his first trip to Africa as foreign minister, Qin outlined for the first time the reasons behind China’s suspension of the issuance of short-term visas to South Korean and Japanese nationals from Tuesday. “I think Tokyo and Seoul have taken... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3206517/s-korean-and-japanese-coronavirus-travel-restrictions-excessive-says-foreign-minister?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3206517/s-korean-and-japanese-coronavirus-travel-restrictions-excessive-says-foreign-minister?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Jan 2023 07:00:12 +0000 Beijing has suspended port visas and visa-tree transit for Japanese and South Koreans in retaliation for Covid-related curbs on travellers from China. A day after announcing the suspension of regular visa applications for Japanese and South Korean citizens on Tuesday, Beijing also shelved port visas – those applied and granted immediately at the border – and its visa-free transit policy, which allows visitors from the two countries to stay in China for up to six days. The restrictions were the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3206437/china-shelves-port-visas-and-visa-free-transit-japanese-and-south-koreans?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3206437/china-shelves-port-visas-and-visa-free-transit-japanese-and-south-koreans?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Jan 2023 10:41:48 +0000 South Korea was accused on Wednesday of having stepped up what Beijing called “discrimination” against Chinese tourists in the past week, as a dispute over travel curbs between the two Asian neighbours escalated. In a commentary, Buyidao, a WeChat account associated with nationalist tabloid Global Times, an arm of the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, called Beijing’s decision to suspend some types of visas for South Koreans “reciprocal countermeasures”. Buyidao also argued that a... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3206416/south-korea-accused-ramping-discrimination-against-chinese-tourists?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3206416/south-korea-accused-ramping-discrimination-against-chinese-tourists?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Jan 2023 10:09:51 +0000 The borders have reopened and quarantine is a thing of the past, but… Predictably, Lok Ma Chau and other crossing points between Hong Kong and mainland China came alive this week, as Covid-19 border restrictions were dropped; however, a return to a great wash of people travelling in and out of China remains some months off. For a variety of reasons. For a start, anyone eager to enter mainland China for any purpose other than business, homecoming, family reunion or study will still have to wait.... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3206409/why-mass-travel-and-out-china-still-months-crazy-flight-ticket-prices-and-covid-fears-other?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3206409/why-mass-travel-and-out-china-still-months-crazy-flight-ticket-prices-and-covid-fears-other?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Jan 2023 08:49:46 +0000 South Korean businessman Lee Dae-poong was hoping to reunite with his wife and two children in Shanghai, after three years of separation caused by China’s strict zero-Covid policy. “I waited for three years to meet my family. I have already booked a plane ticket for the Lunar New Year,” said Lee, who works in the bronze manufacturing industry. But he faces uncertainty, after Beijing retaliated on Tuesday against Seoul’s border control rules by suspending short-term visas for South Koreans... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3206359/china-dream-dashed-south-koreans-caught-covid-19-travel-row?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3206359/china-dream-dashed-south-koreans-caught-covid-19-travel-row?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Jan 2023 03:59:57 +0000 China is expected to cautiously weigh up retaliatory measures against other nations that have imposed Covid restrictions on Chinese travellers, analysts said, after it suspended short-term visas for South Koreans and Japanese. But they said Beijing was not expected to go beyond the restrictions taken by other nations to avoid bilateral relations being compromised. China abandoned its zero-Covid policy in early December and reopened its borders for international travel on Sunday – a move welcomed... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3206319/face-issue-china-likely-retaliate-against-more-countries-over-covid-19-travel-curbs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3206319/face-issue-china-likely-retaliate-against-more-countries-over-covid-19-travel-curbs?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Jan 2023 14:30:19 +0000 Beijing has made good on its promise to retaliate against countries that impose entry restrictions on Chinese travellers by suspending the issuance of some visas for South Korean and Japanese citizens. Chinese officials said the suspension was needed to protest against “discriminatory entry restrictions” on its citizens. The move came after several countries adopted pandemic-related curbs on Chinese travellers, such as requiring Covid-19 tests before departure and limiting flights. Some of those... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3206229/chinas-first-retaliation-over-travel-restrictions-beijing-suspends-short-term-visas-south-koreans?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3206229/chinas-first-retaliation-over-travel-restrictions-beijing-suspends-short-term-visas-south-koreans?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Jan 2023 04:47:49 +0000