KYODO NEWS




 

China said Friday it will restart its unilateral visa-free arrangement for short-term Japanese visitors on Nov. 30, allowing stays of up to 30 days.

The preferential treatment, which had been suspended since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is believed to be aimed at promoting tourism and trade amid a downturn in the world's second-largest economy.

The measure will be effective through the end of next year, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

China has given visa exemptions to short-term visitors from about 30 other countries, including Southeast Asian, European and Oceanian ones as well as South Korea.

But it had previously called for "equal" visa treatment for Chinese nationals as a condition for a resumption of the visa-free arrangement, which Tokyo has repeatedly sought, according to sources familiar with bilateral relations.
Japan requires all Chinese visitors to obtain visas regardless of the length of stay.

Hours after China's formal announcement about the visa exemption, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters in Tokyo that his government had urged Beijing to take such a step to accelerate private exchanges between the two countries.

"We hope that bilateral exchanges will be encouraged further," Ishiba said, adding that deepening Japan-China communication is the most important foundation for the two nations' ties.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ishiba agreed during their meeting in Peru last week to foster "mutually beneficial" and "stable" relations and boost people-to-people exchanges.

Between 2003 and 2020, China allowed Japanese nationals to visit the country without visas for up to 15 days.

Before the pandemic, China also had unilateral arrangements for visa-free short-term visits by Singapore and Brunei citizens. In July last year, it revived the program for the two nations and expanded the preferential measure to other countries.