Mainland officials resume issuing visas for Japanese
Japan on Monday said it will monitor the Covid-19 situation in China and be more flexible with coronavirus measures at the border, after Beijing’s embassy in Tokyo announced it would resume issuing visas to Japanese citizens. The country’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Japan would deal “flexibly” with border control measures, after the embassy’s announcement on Sunday, which ends a step against Japan's decision to require Covid testing for travellers arriving from the mainland. "The Embassy and the Offices of Consulates-General of the People's Republic of China will resume issuing ordinary visas for Japanese citizens," a short online notice issued by the embassy said without elaborating. Beijing had stopped issuing visas for Japanese nationals earlier this month after Japan toughened Covid-19 border control rules for travellers coming directly from the mainland. Japan is still requiring those travelling on direct flights from the mainland to show proof of negative test results from samples taken no more than 72 hours before leaving. They are also still subject to testing upon arriving in Japan.  In early January, Beijing called Tokyo's move "discriminatory", though Japan argued it was necessary given the spread of infections on the mainland. (Reuters/AFP)