China bars S Korean and Japanese visas over coronavirus

Key takeaways: 

• Incheon is the sole airport in South Korea where planes from China can land.
• China has ceased giving short-term visas to people from South Korea and Japan in revenge for Covid rules on Chinese travellers.

South Koreans and Japanese banned from entering China: 

Visas for South Koreans coming to China as tourists have been barred, Beijing’s embassy in Seoul said.

And Japanese press said China was levying similar measures there.

It’s a tit-for-tat action which Beijing says will stay in place till “discriminatory” entry limitations against China are lifted.

South Korea’s ban on Chinese travellers: 

Last week, South Korea stopped giving tourist visas to those arriving from China, which the Chinese foreign ministry called “inappropriate” and “unscientific”.

Responding to China’s latest move, South Korea’s foreign ministry revealed to BBC that its policy towards arrivals from China was “following scientific and objective proof”.

Japan allows Chinese travellers but with one condition: 

Japan, meanwhile, is now letting Chinese visitors into the nation – provided they test negative for Covid.

According to South Korea’s Disease Control and Prevention Agency, about a third of all arrivals from China tested positive for Covid before the visa limitations were implemented.

At Seoul’s Incheon International airport – the lone South Korean airport still permitting flights from China – arrivals are met by military personnel in personal protective equipment.