South Korea said on Friday it will impose mandatory Covid-19 tests on travellers from China, joining the United States, Japan and other countries in taking new border measures after Beijing's decision to lift its Covid policies.

South Korea would also restrict issuing short-term visas for Chinese nationals until the end of next month and temporarily halt increasing flights from China while using Incheon International Airport as the only gateway for any flights from the neighbouring country, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said.

Effective January 5, travellers from China would be required to submit a negative result from a PCR test no more than 48 hours or a rapid antigen test taken within 24 hours before departure, and undergo another PCR test upon arrival starting January 2, officials said.

"We need to urgently prepare for any domestic ripple effects following China's easing of quarantine rules," Han said. "We will prepare to take stronger measures in case the situation gets worse, if we see a rapid increase of infections from new arrivals or appearance of new variants."

China this month began dismantling a regime of lockdowns and extensive testing, prompting countries to impose or consider imposing curbs on travellers from China amid a surge in cases.

Einar Tangen, senior fellow at the Taihe Institute and chairman of Asia Narratives, told RTHK the countries that have imposed travel restrictions on people from China are sounding hypocritical at this point.

"These are all countries that were complaining just at the end of November that China should open up and that it was hampering economic activity...just a few weeks later, they're saying that they want to reverse that and they need to protect their people," Mr Tangen said.

"The coronavirus that's existing in China – and there's about four variants that they've established – these have been around for a long time, they've swept through all of these nations that are now imposing these restrictions. So it does sound very, very political."

Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, on Thursday said that all countries should take a science-based and proportionate approach, and treat people from all countries on an equal footing.

He stressed that pandemic measures should not affect normal people-to-people exchanges and cooperation. (Additional reporting by Reuters)
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Last updated: 2022-12-30 HKT 11:25