A worker inspects the fuel tank from the assembly line of a Japanese company in Wuhan, Central China’s Hubei Province on June 7, 2018. File Photo: IC

A Japanese business organization is calling for a green channel for business travel between China and Japan to help Japanese companies in China resume full operations, but recent comments by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the COVID-19 pandemic have cast a shadow on bilateral ties, with China firmly pushing back.

Although 70 percent of Japanese businesses, mostly auto and auto parts companies, in Central China's Hubei Province have resumed operations, about 50 percent of their Japanese employees who are mostly in management level positions, cannot return to China from Japan, according to a survey by the Japan External Trade Organization's (JETRO) Wuhan office that was conducted between May 11 to 18, based on 83 Japanese companies in the province.

Takehiko Saeki, chief representative of JETRO's Wuhan office, told the Global Times that the biggest problem is that Japanese executives have not returned to Wuhan from Japan.

"Flights between the two countries now run weekly but passengers are restricted, mainly to Chinese students in Japan who want to return home," Saeki said.

Saeki said he understands that there is a green channel between China and South Korea, and they very much hope that a similar channel can be opened with Japan to help the heads of Japanese companies return to China.

However, that call may run into some obstacles, as officials on both sides are sparring over the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, following Abe's comments.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Tuesday firmly pushed back against an earlier comment by Abe that "the novel coronavirus spread from China to the world." Abe's comments are viewed by some in China as a subtle adoption of a narrative pushed by US officials to cast blame on China for the pandemic.

China opposes politicizing and stigmatizing the origin of the virus, which goes against the efforts and expectations of China and Japan in jointly fighting the pandemic, Zhao said, noting that tracing the origin of the coronavirus is a serious scientific issue, which must be based on facts and science, studied by scientists and medical experts.

The green channel that covers people from South Korea and China's 10 provincial-level regions came into effect on May 1, and helps employees who travel between the two countries and who work in sectors like business, logistics, production and technology to resume work as soon as possible. Those who fall into that category can apply for visas and reduce their quarantine time after testing negative for COVID-19.

The resumption of work of Japanese enterprises in Hubei has a positive impact on enterprises in Japan under the same industrial chain. At present, with the resumption of work in the province, the problems of industrial chain and logistics have been greatly alleviated, a business insider said.