China has asked Japan to provide equal visa treatment to Chinese nationals, as Japanese businesses call for the revival of Beijing's pre-COVID unilateral practice of exempting visa requirements for Japanese short-term visitors, sources familiar with the bilateral relationship said Thursday.
Between 2003 and 2020, China allowed Japanese nationals to visit the country visa-free for up to 15 days, while Japan requires all Chinese visitors to obtain visas regardless of length of stay.
Tokyo asks Chinese visa applicants to prove certain income levels as it remains cautious that a visa exemption could lead to an increase in the number of Chinese overstaying their visa and undermine public safety.
Beijing suspended the visa exemption for Japanese nationals in March 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic. It has yet to resume the scheme even after abandoning its stringent antivirus measures in January this year.
Many Japanese companies operating in China have called for the resumption of the measure, with Tetsuro Homma, head of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China, saying last month the absence of the scheme has become "the biggest obstacle" to bilateral economic exchanges.
Since April this year, China has repeatedly made informal requests to Japan for the two countries to mutually implement visa-waiver policies. But the two Asian neighbors have not launched any formal negotiations on resuming the preferential visa treatment, the sources said.
"Japan is not yet ready to start the visa-waiver scheme for Chinese nationals," a Japanese government source said.
