Olympic cities stop issuing business visa

WikipediaIt is not often that I found real news on the Olympic site of the South China Morning Post, but here they have an issue: five of the six Olympic cities have stopped issuing business visa until after the Beijing Olympics. Estimated costs: millions of dollars (I presume HK dolllars, not US dollars).

The Shanghai Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Commission, the municipal authority dealing with foreigners' visa applications, posted a notice on its website on Monday saying all applications for notification letters would be suspended until mid-September.
Authorities in Beijing and three other cities that will co-host the Games - Qingdao, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao - said similar restrictions had been imposed there.

This measure is have a short-term effect.

Update: Reaction are coming in quickly. The European Chamber of Commerce in China is "concerned".

The introduction of such restrictions without warning creates serious problems for companies operating in China.

The European Chamber is seeking clarification from central and local Chinese authorities on these new restrictions, how they will work in practice and how long they can be expected to remain in force.