Beijing slams COVID-19 measures on China travelers

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - Beijing on Tuesday slammed countries that have adopted COVID-19 measures against travelers from China entering their countries, urging them to “take appropriate measures based on science and facts and to stop political manipulation and discriminatory measures.”

“China takes reciprocal countermeasures and calls relevant countries to take appropriate measures based on science and facts and to stop political manipulation and discriminatory measures, in order not to affect normal people-to-people exchanges,” China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a news conference in Beijing.

Beijing's comments came after China early on Tuesday stopped issuing short-term visas to South Korean nationals and ceased granting visas to Japanese travelers.

“It’s regrettable that a few countries ignore science and take discriminatory travel restrictions against China. We firmly oppose this kind of discrimination,” Wang said, according to the Chinese daily Global Times.

Beijing had threatened to take retaliatory measures after several countries imposed restrictions, including requiring negative COVID-19 tests for China travelers entering these countries.

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

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

South Korea and Japan are among many countries including the US, UK, Italy, Spain, France, Morocco, Qatar, Canada, Greece, Malaysia, Finland, and the Netherlands that require negative COVID-19 test results from those arriving from China.