Market News

(Bloomberg) -- China will resume issuing visas to Japanese nationals from Sunday, ending some of the retaliatory measures it took against Covid-related curbs on Chinese travelers.

The Chinese embassy in Japan issued a statement on its official WeChat account announcing the removal of the visa restrictions for Japanese travelers, without giving a reason. 

China announced on Jan. 10 that it had suspended issuing some visas for South Korea and Japan in Beijing’s first retaliation against Covid-related curbs on Chinese travelers to those countries. 

There was no update of China’s suspension of visas for South Korea. The Chinese embassy to South Korea said in a Jan. 10 statement that the a resumption depended on South Korea’s removal of its “discriminative inbound restrictive measures” targeting China.

Beijing wound back its measures despite no adjustment by Japan on its Covid rules over inbound travelers from China. Japanese firms have been taking their money out of China, and the government in Tokyo has been encouraging companies to reduce their Chinese dependence.

READ: China Hits Back at South Korea, Japan in Covid Retaliation (1) 

--With assistance from James Mayger.

(Adds details on shrinking Japanese investment in China in last paragraph.)