December 6, 2025 | 01:20 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Tensions between the governments of China and Japan have affected the tourism industry of both countries. Major Chinese airlines are extending full refund offers for flights to Japan for another three months, until March 2026. This extension comes after the diplomatic tensions between Beijing and Tokyo show no signs of easing.
Reported by South China Morning Post on Thursday, December 5, 2025, Air China, China Eastern Airlines, and China Southern Airlines released statements allowing free ticket refunds or changes in travel plans for flights booked until March 28 next year. Several other airlines, including Hainan Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Spring Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines, also issued similar statements.
1,900 Flights Canceled
More than 1,900 flight schedules from China to Japan have been canceled this month, according to a report from China's state-backed CCTV. This figure is equivalent to over 40 percent of flights from mainland China to Japan.
The cancellations are a result of the free ticket refund offers or changes in travel plans for flights to Japan booked until December 31 last month. The offers were issued a few hours after Beijing's travel warning on November 14. The Chinese government advised its citizens to avoid visiting the country due to safety concerns.
China is the largest source of foreign tourists to Japan. Statistics from Japan's tourism agency show that the number of visitors from China has been growing every year since 2021, reaching 6.9 million in 2024, as reported by Asia News.
Origin of the Tensions
Tensions between Beijing and Tokyo escalated last month after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stated that Japan could deploy military forces in the event of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait. Takaichi's comments made her the first Japanese leader to openly link the Taiwan contingency to the possibility of deploying Japanese Self-Defense Forces since World War II. She refused to retract her comments despite repeated protests from Beijing.
Since the free refund offers were provided, hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists have canceled their travel plans to Japan. Last week, Chinese media reports indicated that several domestic airlines had canceled flights on 12 of their routes to Japan, including popular tourist destinations such as Kyoto and Osaka.
Read: China Again Sends Letter to UN Chief Over Japan PM's Taiwan Comments
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