hankyoreh

People walk past Beijing Railway Station on Jan. 10. (EPA/Yonhap)

China is retaliating against Japan and Korea after threatening to take “corresponding measures” to COVID-19 testing requirements that various countries around the world are implementing for Chinese travelers.

As the first country to temporarily stop issuing short-term visas to those coming to China, Korea has become China’s first target, with Japan appearing to have been made subject to the same measures.

Visas, which allow non-nationals to enter countries, are an area in which reciprocity is key.

China’s suspension of short-term visa issuance to South Korean nationals made on Tuesday indeed echoes the measures taken by South Korea.

The South Korean government announced on Dec. 30, 2022, that it would restrict the issuing of short-term visas to Chinese nationals, excluding public officials, diplomats, and those with crucial humanitarian and business purposes, until the end of January.

The South Korean government also mentioned that it would impose mandatory COVID-19 tests for Chinese nationals entering the country.

South Korea’s decision to suspend the issuing of visas was the second strongest measure among worldwide entry regulations affecting Chinese nationals, with the strongest being Morocco’s total entry ban for Chinese nationals. The US, Japan, and many European countries have tightened regulations for incoming Chinese nationals but have not gone so far as to stop issuing visas — their restrictions stop at merely making COVID-19 testing mandatory.

As countries worldwide are alarmed by the increasing number of people in China testing positive for COVID-19 and are starting to come up with measures to strengthen disease control, the Chinese government announced that it would not hesitate to resort to “corresponding” measures in a briefing by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Jan. 3.

One week later, the country has chosen its two neighbors, South Korea and Japan, as the most suitable countries to put their words into action.

Even though Morocco has imposed a much stronger ban on the entry of Chinese nationals, China appears to have calculated that the level of ties and exchange it shares with the Maghreb country were not at an adequate level for sending a message.

On the other hand, with millions of Korean and Japanese people coming to and from China, Beijing seems to have judged that restricting visa issuance will be more than enough to set an example.

China’s response to Japan is interesting. The suspension of visa issuance to Korea was made official through an announcement by the Chinese Embassy in Korea, but there have been no official announcements about visa suspensions in Japan.

It seems to be since unlike South Korea, Japan has not stopped issuing visas to China.

China expressed concerns on Monday over Korea’s measures to strengthen quarantine restrictions and basically warned that retaliatory actions would be taken. The newly appointed minister of foreign affairs, Qin Gang, spoke to Foreign Minister Park Jin of South Korea on the same day for a formal introduction. During the call, he expressed concern over South Korea’s actions.

China has insisted that its actions are not “retaliatory,” but based on reciprocity, in order to avoid controversy.

Chinese authorities stated that the timeframe for the suspension of visa issuance may be adjusted depending on when South Korea cancels its “discriminative inbound restrictive measures on China.”

Wang Wenbin, the spokesperson of China’s Foreign Ministry, replied in response to a question inquiring on the background behind the suspension of visa issuances to South Korea and Japan on Tuesday that “a handful of countries, in disregard of science, facts and their actual epidemic situation, have insisted on taking discriminatory entry restriction measures targeting China.”

“China firmly rejects a handful of countries’ discriminatory entry restriction measures targeting China and will take reciprocal measures,” the spokesperson said.

However, China’s response seems unreasonable compared to the situation in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic first started.

In March 2020, during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, China imposed a full entry ban on all foreign nationals, including South Koreans.

At the time, South Korea did not take special quarantine measures against China and refrained from imposing an entry ban.

As such, there are voices of concern that the move may be being made to sound an alarm about South Korea’s US-oriented foreign diplomacy measures that have been continuing since President Yoon Suk-yeol took office.

The South Korean government has remained cautious.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that “we are not in the stage to interpret the meaning behind the measures taken by China,” adding, “It has not yet been confirmed whether these measures were aimed only at Korea or in other regions such as Europe.”

By Choi Hyun-june, Beijing correspondent; Shin Hyeong-cheol, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]