China forces transit passengers from Korea, Japan to get visas

A Chinese visa application service center in Buk District, Gwangju is closed on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Beijing suspended transit visa exemptions for Korean and Japanese traveling through China Wednesday, an additional retaliation for restrictions on its own nationals.

China's National Immigration Administration said Wednesday that "measures have been introduced as a small number of countries have recently implemented discriminatory entry restrictions against Chinese nationals."

Normally, China allows transit passengers to stay in airports or even in cities without visas for up to 144 hours while waiting for a connecting flight. That will be denied Koreans and Japanese travelers starting Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Beijing stopped issuing short-term visas to Koreans in retaliation for Seoul's stricter Covid-19 measures on travelers coming from China.

Korean health authorities stressed Wednesday that the decision to require greater quarantine measures for travelers from China was to prioritize the "health and safety of the people."

The new quarantine measures were "based on objective and scientific grounds" and also reflected a lack of transparency in China's virus data, said Lim Sook-young, director of the infectious disease crisis response bureau at the Central Disease Control Headquarters in a press briefing Wednesday.

"We are aware of the worsening Covid-19 situation in China," said Lim. "Concerns about new variants due to the large number of patients must also be considered. It was an inevitable measure that was taken after careful consideration in a situation where the risk and uncertainties in Korea, the closest neighbor, increased due to China's suspension of the release of data."

Since Jan. 2, Korea suspended the issuance of short-term visas for Chinese nationals visiting for less than 90 days until the end of this month. Travelers to Korea from mainland China have to submit a negative Covid test result before boarding a plane and get a PCR test on arrival. If they test positive, they are quarantined at their own expense.

Visitors from Hong Kong and Macau have less onerous restrictions, merely needing the pre-boarding negative test, although if those travelers are symptomatic, they need to take a PCR test at Incheon Airport, the only port allowed to receive visitors from all parts of China.

President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered the Foreign Ministry to explain to the Korean public Beijing's suspension of short-term visa issuance, and to emphasize that Seoul's "quarantine policy is a matter of protecting our citizens based on scientific grounds," said Foreign Minister Park Jin in a briefing Wednesday.

Park said that "it is very regrettable that China has taken such a countermeasure by completely suspending the issuance of short-term visas," and that it would "be desirable for China's quarantine measures to be based on scientific and objective facts."

He said that there are exceptions in place for diplomatic or government affairs, urgent business activities, or humanitarian travel. Park added that it is "undesirable for these measures to have a negative impact on Korea-China relations."

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Tuesday he doesn't necessarily view China's decision to suspend short-term visas for Korean nationals as "retaliation."

Han was asked if China's suspension of short-term visa issuance was a retaliatory move during a New Year's dinner meeting with reporters at his official residence in Sejong City.

He said the Korean government engaged in extensive communication with the Chinese when it decided to impose restrictions on flight operations and short-term visas for travelers from China on Dec. 30.

At that time, Han said he asked the Korean Foreign Ministry to "thoroughly explain to the Chinese government why we are doing this."

He added that China's tough measures could be because "it could be troublesome if the situation in China becomes worse than what it looks from the outside." He said the public's safety is his top priority and emphasized that he believes the issue will be "resolved through communication."

The suspension of short-term visas to Korean and Japanese nationals Tuesday was Beijing's first retaliation for restrictions by countries on travelers from China.

At least 10 countries in North America, Europe and Asia have raised restrictions on visitors from China after Beijing ended its "zero Covid" policy last month.

The Chinese Embassy in Seoul said in a statement Tuesday that visas for business, tourism, medical treatment, transit and general private affairs would be suspended for Korean citizens starting from that day. It added that such measures will be "adjusted" if Korea cancels its "discriminatory" entry restrictions on China.

China's embassy in Tokyo issued a similar statement saying it was suspending ordinary visas for Japanese citizens, and that any resumption will be "notified in the future."

Some analysts believe that Korea was chosen as the first country for retaliation because the Korean economy is so heavily reliant on China, and it's an easier target than Western countries.

Small- and medium-sized companies in Korea exporting to China are getting worried. Addressing such concerns, Korea's Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced it will begin to operate a center for identifying difficulties pertaining to China's visa suspension. It will operate in 13 offices nationwide.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said it is "regrettable that a small number of countries still insist on adopting discriminatory entry restrictions against China in disregard of scientific facts and the actual situation of the pandemic in their own countries," in a press briefing Tuesday. He warned that Beijing "firmly opposes this and will take reciprocal measures."

Koreans immediately pointed out that China took similar measures three years ago, unilaterally banning the entry of foreigners with visas in March 2020 over Covid-19 concerns, so taking retaliatory measures against Seoul for doing the same doesn't seem fair.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and several countries have been calling on China to share more data about its Covid-19 outbreak.

When asked by a reporter about China's retaliatory restrictions on Korea and Japan, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary general, said in a briefing at the United Nations in New York Tuesday, "As WHO says, it is very important that all decisions regarding screening of passengers and so on be taken on scientific grounds and only on scientific grounds."

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]