China's visa-free boom picks up steam as entries soar in first half of 2025
visa-free foreign entries rising by more than half compared to the same period a year earlier.
Foreign nationals made 38 million trips in and out of the country, a 30 per cent increase year on year, according to the administration.
'Visa facilitation measures have effectively attracted large numbers of foreign visitors for tourism and business, driving sustained growth in inbound consumption,' administration spokeswoman Lu Ning said.
A previous long-standing policy allowed travellers without a Chinese visa to transit through the country visa-free for up to 24 hours if they held valid travel documents with onwards confirmation to a third country, consistent with international practice.
In the 2010s, Chinese cities such as Xiamen and Kunming introduced 72-hour or 144-hour visa-free transit to attract foreign visitors, though travel was restricted within those individual cities.
03:15
What to know: new mainland travel permits for non-Chinese nationals in Hong Kong and Macau
What to know: new mainland travel permits for non-Chinese nationals in Hong Kong and Macau
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
Albanese's China trip shows ‘stiffening of Canberra's spine' in face of US pressure
A month after US President Donald Trump cancelled talks with Anthony Albanese , China rolled out the red carpet for the Australian leader this week. In Beijing, he had a two-hour meeting with President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People. Albanese's fiancee, Jodie Haydon, joined the lunch that followed. He held separate talks with Premier Li Qiang, and they co-chaired a CEO round table attended by nearly 30 Chinese and Australian business executives. At the banquet hosted by Li that evening, a band played iconic Australian anthems including 'a different version of Paul Kelly's 'To Her Door', of Midnight Oil's 'Power and the Passion'', Albanese later told reporters. The Australian prime minister also visited Shanghai and Chengdu on a six-day trip that shed light on Canberra's approach to navigating great power rivalry after a reset in relations with Beijing. It showed how Australia is trying to maintain ties with China – its largest trading partner – and the alliance with the United States, while side-stepping thornier issues such as Beijing's military activities and Taiwan 'Australia's predicament is not unusual in the region,' said James Laurenceson, director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney. 'I think there remains utility in Canberra's approach. The economic equities in relations with China and security equities in relations with the US are so large that making a binary choice is simply not realistic.'
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Australia sends mixed message with China visit and war drills
While Anthony Albanese was busy this week trying to improve relations and promote business for Australia in his state visit to China, his country and the United States were hosting what has been advertised as their biggest military exercise involving 17 other allies and friendly nations. Talisman Sabre is the biennial exercise dating back to the mid-2000s. This year, it involves almost 40,000 troops and 19 nations. And a not-too-subtle hint: they are united in preparing against an aggressive and expansionist China. Talk about Canberra sending mixed messages to Beijing! The press releases put out earlier by the defence departments of Australia and the US were positively breathless. 'Talisman Sabre 2025 is the largest and most sophisticated warfighting exercise ever conducted in Australia,' the Australian version read. 'Over the next three weeks, more than 35,000 military personnel from Australia and partnering nations will deploy across Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia, New South Wales and Christmas Island. For the first time, activities will also be conducted outside of Australia in Papua New Guinea.' Poor New Guinea! But when your two overlords say so, you don't have much of a choice. Likewise with Fiji and Tonga, two other 'allies' called to duty to boost the numbers.
South China Morning Post
8 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
US farm agency fires 70 foreign researchers after national security review
The US Department of Agriculture said it has fired 70 foreign contract researchers after a national security review intended to secure the US food supply from adversaries including China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. Advertisement 'USDA has completed a thorough review of individuals authorised to work on contracts with the department and identified around 70 individuals from countries of concern,' a spokesperson said. 'The individuals working on these contracts from countries of concern will no longer be able to work on USDA projects.' US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on July 8 had announced a farm security plan that included efforts to bar purchases of US farmland by nationals of the four countries, and to terminate any existing research agreements with them. Rollins said the moves were necessary to secure the US food supply. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on July 8 announced a farm security plan that included efforts to bar purchases of US farmland by nationals of China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. Photo: Reuters The contractors had worked at the Agricultural Research Service, the in-house research arm of the USDA, said Thomas Henderson, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1657, which represents ARS workers in Albany, California. Advertisement Most of those dismissed were Chinese postdoctoral researchers on two-year contracts with the agency, and who were already subject to vetting before being hired, Henderson said.
