Christina Liew
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Government welcomes the Japan Government’s revision of the travel advisory barring its citizens from visiting Sabah’s East Coast, says Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Christina Liew.
Describing the move as a positive development, she said it is only a partial lifting of the ban whereby Japanese nationals are now allowed to visit Tawau, Sandakan, and Lahad Datu, if necessary, but that they are still not allowed to travel to the islands off Semporna.
“I was made to understand that the revision was made a couple of days ago. The Consul-General of Japan in Kota Kinabalu (H.E. Yamashita Yoshito) has confirmed that it is not a complete lifting of the travel advisory,” Liew said in a statement Thursday.
It is understood that the Advisory is posted in the Japanese language only on Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website.
The Minister expressed the hope that the travel advisory can be completely lifted in the near future.
In 2019, Liew had visited Japan and requested the Government to consider lifting the advisory which was issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).
