China’s government requested that both Japan and the mainland allow visa free entry to the other nation’s citizens to simplify travel between them, the Chinese Commerce Minister told a group of visiting Japanese businesspeople this week, according to a member of the contingent.
In the Tuesday meeting between retired Japanese lawmaker Yohei Kono, Japanese executives and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, some of the Japanese business group complained about the difficulty of getting visas to travel to the mainland, according to a briefing Wednesday by Kazuo Koga, who is Kono’s secretary and attended the meeting.
In response, Wang said that China had proposed to Japan a mutual visa exemption system, suggesting to the Japanese executives they lobby Tokyo on the matter.
Prior to the Covid pandemic most Japanese could enter China without a visa, but that wasn’t restarted even after China reopened its borders this year, making it harder for Japanese to come. That has also made it difficult for business executives to visit, even as China is trying to attract more foreign investment.
In a briefing earlier this month in Beijing, a senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs official called for reciprocity on visas and said that China is proposing “mutually beneficial” measures to Japan, according to a report in Japanese media.
Read more: China Seeks Mutual Visa Exemption With Singapore, Says Official
Singapore is in a similar situation. China has requested a “mutual visa exemption arrangement” with Singapore, the Chinese ambassador to the city said in April, while Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said in May that he asked China to restore the pre-pandemic visa-free arrangement, according to local media.
The Ministry of Commerce didn’t immediately respond to a request for confirmation of Wang’s comments and the Japanese embassy in Beijing said they hadn’t received any request from China on this issue.
It is unknown whether Japan would agree to the request, but the country is already seeing a quick rebound in tourism this year even without large numbers of Chinese visitors. The tourism industry in Tokyo is facing a labor shortage, which could also make it difficult to deal with a sudden jump in the number of tourists from China if the two sides agreed to allow visa-free travel.
