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Japan protests China's suspension of visa issuance to citizens

The Japanese government on Wednesday protested China's decision to suspend the issuance of visas to Japanese travelers and urged the country to repeal the measure that is seen as retaliation for Tokyo adopting tighter COVID-19 entry restrictions. "It is extremely regrettable that China is restricting issuing visas for reasons besides novel coronavirus countermeasures," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a regular news conference, adding Tokyo has protested through diplomatic channels. China stopped issuing new visas to Japanese and South Korean travelers Tuesday after it said it would respond to countries that introduced tighter coronavirus entry restrictions on visitors from China. Since late last year, Japan temporarily started tightening border controls on travelers from mainland China amid a surge of cases and fears that a new virus variant could emerge there.

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