BEIJING (Kyodo) -- China restarted its unilateral visa-free arrangement for short-term Japanese visitors on Saturday, allowing stays of up to 30 days in a move believed to be aimed at promoting tourism and trade amid a downturn in the world's second-largest economy.

The preferential treatment had been suspended since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The step will be effective through the end of next year.

At present, Japan requires all Chinese visitors to obtain visas regardless of the length of stay. Beijing had previously called for "equal" visa treatment for Chinese nationals as a condition for the resumption of the visa-free arrangement, according to sources familiar with bilateral relations.

China has so far given visa exemptions to short-term visitors from about 40 countries, including some in Southeast Asia, Europe and Oceania, as well as South Korea and Japan.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba agreed during their meeting in Peru earlier this month to foster "mutually beneficial" and "stable" relations and boost people-to-people exchanges.

Between 2003 and 2020, China allowed Japanese nationals to visit without visas for up to 15 days.

It remains unclear whether the visa-free scheme could sharply increase Japanese tourism and investment in China due to a host of issues that have strained the relationship, such as the fatal stabbing of a Japanese schoolboy in Shenzhen and the detention of Japanese nationals over espionage allegations.