China Lifts Japan Visa Retaliation... "Resumption of Issuance Screening"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] China has lifted the suspension of general visa issuance, which was imposed as retaliation against Japan's strengthened quarantine measures.

The Chinese Embassy in Japan announced on the afternoon of the 29th via its official WeChat social media account, "Starting today, the Chinese Embassy and consulates in Japan have resumed issuing general visas to Japanese nationals."

The Japanese government, upon China's announcement on the 26th of last month to shift its policy towards ending the 'Zero COVID' strategy, declared the following day that all arrivals from China would be subject to COVID-19 testing. Subsequently, on the 8th of this month, it mandated the submission of negative test certificates.

The Japanese government enforced testing and other requirements for entrants from China. However, it did not impose visa issuance restrictions to block Chinese nationals from entering Japan.

In response, China temporarily suspended the issuance of general visas to Japanese nationals on the 10th as retaliation for the strengthened quarantine measures. The following day, it also announced the suspension of visa-on-arrival issuance.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.