BEIJING - Chinese state media defended on Wednesday the retaliatory measures against South Korea and Japan over their Covid-19 travel curbs as “reasonable”, while Chinese tourists decried Seoul’s “insulting” treatment on social media.
China reopened its borders on Sunday after three years of isolation under the world’s strictest regime of Covid-19 restrictions, which Beijing abruptly began dismantling in early December after historic protests.
With the virus spreading unchecked among China’s 1.4 billion people after the policy U-turn, some foreign governments have raised concerns about the scale and impact of the outbreak, with the World Health Organisation saying deaths are underreported.
In a first, China’s health authorities - which have been reporting five or fewer deaths a day over the past month, numbers that are inconsistent with the long queues seen at funeral homes - did not report Covid-19 fatalities data on Tuesday.
China’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and the country’s National Health Commission did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
More than a dozen countries, including the United States, Australia and some European Union members, imposed at the start of the year requirements for pre-departure negative test results from visitors from China.
Among them, South Korea and Japan have also limited flights and require tests on arrival, with passengers showing up as positive being sent to quarantine.
In response, the Chinese embassies in Seoul and Tokyo said on Tuesday they had suspended issuing short-term visas for travellers to China, with the foreign ministry slamming the testing requirements as “discriminatory.”
China requires negative test results from visitors from all countries.
State-run nationalist tabloid Global Times defended Beijing’s retaliation as a “direct and reasonable response to protect its own legitimate interests, particularly after some countries are continuing hyping up China’s epidemic situation by putting travel restrictions for political manipulation.”
Japan lodged a protest to China over the move and asked that it overturn the action, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Wednesday.
“It is regrettable that China unilaterally has taken visa suspension action for reasons other than steps for the coronavirus,” Mr Matsuno told a regular press conference.
Asked about Japan’s border controls going forward, Mr Matsuno said the government would respond appropriately based on China’s coronavirus situation and its information disclosure.
China’s decision was “deeply regrettable”, the South’s Foreign Minister Park Jin said on Wednesday, adding that Seoul’s move was based on scientific evidence.
“It’s deeply regrettable China took such a countermeasure by entirely suspending issuance of short-term visas,” Mr Park told a news briefing, adding that South Korea still issues visas to Chinese visitors for urgent business or humanitarian purposes.
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2023-01-11 03:23:10Z
CBMiXmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnN0cmFpdHN0aW1lcy5jb20vYXNpYS9lYXN0LWFzaWEvamFwYW4tbG9kZ2VzLXByb3Rlc3QtdG8tY2hpbmEtb3Zlci12aXNhLXN1c3BlbnNpb27SAQA
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