China will allow citizens from countries including France, Germany and Italy to enter the country without a visa as Beijing takes another step toward opening up and facilitating more cross-border exchanges.
The country will also scrap the entry visa requirement for travelers from Spain, the Netherlands and Malaysia, the foreign ministry announced Friday, according to state media. The move takes effect from Dec. 1 and will last until Nov. 30 of next year, and will allow leisure, business and family travelers from those nations to stay in China for up to 15 days without a visa.
The ministry didn’t announce reciprocal arrangements between China and any of the six countries. All of them require some form of a visa from Chinese travelers.
The lifting of visa requirements aims to “facilitate the high-quality development of the services related to the movement of Chinese and foreign people, and the high-level opening up to the outside world,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, according to China Central Television.
It’s the latest attempt by the world’s second-largest economy to facilitate people-to-people exchanges amid an economic slowdown. Foreign investment has dwindled this year despite Beijing’s efforts to calm sentiment.
The Chinese government has embarked on a big push in recent months to lure foreign investment back to the country. In August, it introduced a sweeping plan to allay fears about doing business in China, including pledges to offer overseas firms better tax treatment and make it easier for them to obtain visas.
But Beijing’s promises have rung hollow for some firms, with foreign business groups decrying “promise fatigue” amid skepticism about whether meaningful policy support is forthcoming. They also have incentive to repatriate earnings overseas because of the wide gap in interest rates between China and the US, which may be pushing them to seek higher returns elsewhere.
The visa easing came just before Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was scheduled to meet his French counterpart, who is in Beijing for a two-day visit to smooth relations after an European anti-subsidy probe championed by Paris into Chinese electric vehicles raised trade tensions with the Asian nation.
It also was announced ahead of the EU-China summit, which is scheduled for early December. The visa free access should make it easier for foreign investors from the countries in Europe to travel to China.
Read More: China’s Open for Travel But Few Tourists Are Coming or Going
China currently grants unilateral visa-free entry to passport holders of Singapore and Brunei. Japan previously enjoyed the treatment too, but it has yet to be restored after Covid saw China shut its borders and suspended all visa-free entry arrangements.
--With assistance from James Mayger.
(Updates with more context.)
