New curbs for S.Korea, Japan nationals transiting China
China says visa suspensions for S.Korea, Japan reasonable
Escalating diplomatic spat may complicate economic relations
Social media users lash out at S.Korea39;s insulting COVID curbs

BEIJING, Jan 11 Reuters China introduced transit curbs for South Korean and Japanese nationals on Wednesday, in an escalating diplomatic spat over COVID19 curbs that is marring the grand reopening of the world39;s secondlargest economy after three years of isolation.

China removed quarantine mandates for inbound travellers on Sunday, one of the last vestiges of the world39;s strictest regime of COVID restrictions, which Beijing abruptly began dismantling in early December after historic protests.

But worries over the scale and impact of the outbreak in China, where the virus is spreading unchecked, have prompted more than a dozen countries to demand negative COVID test results from people arriving from China.

Among them, South Korea and Japan have also limited flights and require tests on arrival, with passengers showing up as positive being sent to quarantine. In South Korea, quarantine is at the traveller39;s own cost.

In response, the Chinese embassies in Seoul and Tokyo said on Tuesday they had suspended issuing shortterm visas for travellers to China, with the foreign ministry slamming the testing requirements as discriminatory.

That prompted an official protest from Japan to China, while South Korean foreign minister…