China suspends free transit policy with South Korea, Japan

ISTANBUL

China on Wednesday suspended its free transit policy with South Korea and Japan, taking yet another strong stance in response to the two countries' restrictions on China travelers due to the COVID-19 issue.

“China has suspended the issuance of port visas and the 72/144-hour visa-free transit policy for South Korean and Japanese citizens,” China's National Immigration Administration informed state broadcaster CGTN in a statement.

The latest move comes after Beijing suspended issuing visas to Japanese citizens and halted granting short-term visas to South Koreans.

Beijing’s decisions come after several countries, including South Korea, the US, UK, Italy, Spain, France, Morocco, Qatar, Canada, Greece, Malaysia, Finland, and the Netherlands, demanded negative COVID-19 test results from travelers arriving from China.

China dumped its "zero-COVID" policy on Sunday, allowing full international travel.

However, the world's largest populated nation has seen an uptick in daily virus cases.