China has suspended issuing short-term visas for South Korean and Japanese nationals, its embassies in Seoul and Tokyo said on Tuesday, in an apparent retaliation against COVID-19 restrictions imposed on Chinese travellers in the wake of a spike in coronavirus cases in the country.
Seoul and Tokyo joined more than a dozen countries that have imposed new travel curbs on arrivals from China over concerns about rising infections after Beijing changed its stringent “Zero COVID” policy last month following widespread protests.
