China has suspended issuing some short-term visas for South Korean nationals in Beijing’s first retaliation against Covid-related curbs on Chinese travelers.
(Bloomberg) — China has suspended issuing some short-term visas for South Korean nationals in Beijing’s first retaliation against Covid-related curbs on Chinese travelers.
Chinese consulates in South Korea will stop issuing short-term visas for visits, business, tourism, medical care, transit and personal matters from Tuesday, the Chinese Embassy in Seoul said in a statement. The suspension will be adjusted if South Korea removes its “discriminative inbound restrictive measures” targeting China, it added.
Shares of some South Korean stocks linked to travel and tourism slid in afternoon trading, with cosmetics maker Amorepacific Corp. falling as much as 6.2% and Korean Air slipping 1.3%.
The move represents China’s first attempt at retaliation after a raft of nations recently implemented testing requirements for travelers from the country. The dismantling of China’s Covid Zero policy after almost three years has sparked a deluge of infections that, combined with a lack of information about how many people are sick or dying, has raised concerns over the possibility that new virus strains will emerge.
In response to China’s moves, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Lim Soo-suk said that its own measures are “based on scientific and objective grounds.”
South Korea said in late-December that it would require Covid tests for all travelers from China by end of February, and would limit short-term visa issuance until end of January. It also put the further increase in the number of flights from China on hold and directed existing flights to one airport.
“The government has been transparently sharing relevant information with the international community, and has continued to communicate with the Chinese side,” Lim said in a briefing.
The spat will likely rekindle memories of China’s decision to dramatically scale back trade with South Korea in 2017 after then-President Moon Jae-in agreed to host a US anti-missile system. Moon’s successor, President Yoon Suk Yeol, has in recent months raised Beijing’s ire by pledging to work more closely with the US, including expanding the missile shield.
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China had warned earlier this month that it would hit back against restrictions against its travelers and Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Monday expressed concerns about South Korea’s travel curbs to his Korean counterpart Park Jin, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Korea appears to have been singled out for first retaliation because its curbs on travelers from China go further than any other major trading partner. The US, European nations and Japan have only mandated testing before or after arrival, while Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia and Thailand have imposed rules on all visitors rather than singling out those from China.
China currently requires all inbound travelers to have a 48-hour negative PCR test result, which means its rules on all visitors are largely the same as what Western countries and Japan have placed on mainland travelers, narrowing its retaliatory options for those places.
–With assistance from Kurt Schussler, Shinhye Kang and Seyoon Kim.
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