On Tuesday, China suspended issuing visas for South Koreans to come to the country for tourism or business in apparent retaliation for South Korea's COVID-19 testing requirements for Chinese travelers.
A brief notice posted online by the Chinese embassy in Seoul said the ban would continue until South Korea lifted its "discriminatory measures on entry to China" into the country.
No further details were given, though Beijing has threatened retaliation against countries that require travelers from China to show a negative test result for COVID-19 within the past 48 hours.
The regulation appeared to apply to new applicants and said nothing about South Koreans holding visas in Beijing and other Chinese cities where companies like Hyundai and Samsung have a large presence.
In a phone call with his South Korean counterpart Park Jin, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang expressed concern about South Korea's actions and said he "hopes the South Korean side will stick to an objective and scientific attitude."
China's announcement appears to be based on its stiff demand for reciprocity in foreign relations. About a dozen nations have followed the US in requiring negative tests for travelers arriving from China, which lifted most of its "COVID-free" restrictions for the first time in three years but has also seen a large outbreak since last month.
At a daily briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin defended China's anti-epidemic measures, adding, "regrettably, a handful of countries, disregarding the science, facts, and reality at home, insisted on discriminatory entry restriction measures targeting China. China firmly rejected this and took reciprocal measures .”
The World Health Organization and several countries have accused China of withholding data on the outbreak. Testing requirements are intended to identify possible viral variants carried by travelers.
China is now facing a surge in cases and hospitalizations in major cities and is preparing for further spread in less developed regions as the travel rush begins in the Lunar New Year, set to begin in the coming days.
While international flights remain low, authorities say they expect domestic rail and air travel to double over the same period last year, bringing overall numbers close to those in the pre-pandemic 2019 holiday period.
Follow the latest news on Google News
