Beijing, The Indonesia Post – China asked several countries to change their behavior by prioritizing a science-based approach in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We hope those countries lift discriminatory restrictions against Chinese nationals as soon as possible, and cooperate with China in restoring cross-border travel and people-to-people exchanges,” Chinese Foreign Ministry (MFA) spokesman Wang Wenbin said in Beijing on Thursday.
The statement was made by Beijing in response to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s disappointment with China’s suspension of issuing visas for Japanese citizens.
“It is regrettable that China has unilaterally implemented restrictions that appear to have nothing to do with containing COVID,” Kishida said.
According to him, Japan has protested against China through diplomatic channels and urged the repeal of the visa policy.
South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin also regretted China’s decision to suspend the issuance of short-term visas to South Koreans.
Japan and South Korea previously imposed an obligation to provide negative PCR test results on Chinese citizens before arriving in the two countries.
China considers this policy discriminatory, so it needs to provide countermeasures by suspending the issuance of visas for citizens of the two countries.
“We have given clear information a few days ago about China’s position,” Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing on Thursday. (mhn/bbs)
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