Latest news with #Mao
Leaders
3 days ago
- Business
- Leaders
Saudis to Get Visa-Free Entry to China
China has granted Saudi travelers visa-free entry for 30 days, in a policy trial that will last for one year, reported the Chinese official news agency Xinhua. During a press briefing on Wednesday, China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Mao Ning, announced that ordinary passport holders from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain will get visa-free entry to China on a trial basis, starting from June 9, 2025, to June 8, 2026. The announcement followed the ASEAN-China-GCC Summit, which took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, under the theme 'Synergizing Economic Opportunities toward Shared Prosperity.' Under the new policy, the citizens of these four Gulf countries will be able to travel to China for business, sightseeing, visiting relatives or friends, exchanges or transit purposes without needing a visa for entry, Mao explained. 'China now grants visa-free status to all GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries. We welcome more friends from the GCC countries to visit China anytime,' Mao said. Since 2018, the UAE and Qatar have adopted reciprocal visa-free entry policies with China. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has the Approved Destination Status (ADS) with China, an arrangement that took effect on July 1, 2024. This agreement allows Chinese tourists to visit the Kingdom in group tours with simplified visa procedures, cheaper tickets and increased daily flights. Under Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia targets 5 million Chinese tourists by the end of the decade, aiming to make China its third largest source market for international arrivals by 2030, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). To this end, the Kingdom has boosted connectivity with new direct flights by Air China, China Eastern, and China Southern, alongside the existing Saudia flights. It has also introduced tailored products, and developed strategic partnerships to enhance group and Flexible Independent Travel (FIT) experiences. Short link : Post Views: 13
Muscat Daily
3 days ago
- Business
- Muscat Daily
China announces visa-free entry for Omanis
Beijing, China – China will trial a policy granting ordinary passport holders from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain visa-free entry into China up to 30 days from June 9, 2025, to June 8, 2026, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday. At a daily press briefing, Mao elaborated on China's recent announcement of a unilateral visa-free policy for the four Gulf countries on a trial basis. Nationals from these four countries traveling to China for business, sightseeing, visiting relatives or friends, exchanges or transit for up to 30 days will not be required to obtain a visa for entry, Mao said. 'With the United Arab Emirates and Qatar that have implemented reciprocal visa-free policies with China since 2018, China now grants visa-free treatment to all GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries. We welcome more friends from the GCC countries to embark on an impromptu trip to China,' Mao said.
Saudi Gazette
3 days ago
- Business
- Saudi Gazette
China grants visa-free access to all GCC countries, including Saudi Arabia
Saudi Gazette report BEIJING — China has officially extended its visa-free policy to cover all Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states, marking a significant step in deepening people-to-people exchanges with the region. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning announced on Wednesday that nationals from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain will be eligible to enter China without a visa starting June 9, 2025, until June 8, 2026. The visa waiver applies to visits for tourism, business, family visits, exchanges, or transit, and is limited to 30 days. The move completes China's visa-free coverage for the entire GCC bloc, which already included the UAE and Qatar — countries that have enjoyed full mutual visa exemptions with China since 2018. 'We welcome more friends from GCC countries to embark on a spontaneous trip to China,' Mao said, highlighting the initiative as part of Beijing's ongoing efforts to promote greater mobility and cultural connection between China and the Arab Gulf states. The announcement followed discussions during the ASEAN–China–GCC Summit, where China outlined plans to boost regional cooperation and ease travel barriers as part of its broader diplomatic outreach to the Middle East.
Arab Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Arab Times
Visa-Free China: GCC Nationals Can Now Visit with Ease
KUWAIT CITY, May 28: China will implement a visa-free policy for ordinary passport holders from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain from June 9, 2025, to June 8, 2026, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday. Ordinary passport holders from the four countries can be exempted from requiring visas to enter China and stay for up to 30 days for business, tourism, family visits, exchanges, and transit purposes. Together with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, which were granted visa exemptions in 2018, this extends full visa-free coverage for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, according to Mao.
New York Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
The fight for liberty starts in the classroom — how one state is joining the battle
The purpose of public education in America was never just to teach basic literacy or vocational skills — it was to shape citizens capable of sustaining a free republic. Thomas Jefferson, the most forceful advocate for public education among the Founders, argued that knowledge was the first line of defense against tyranny. 'Educate and inform the whole mass of the people,' he wrote, 'They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.' Advertisement Today, that mission has been betrayed. Instead of teaching students to resist despotism and preserve liberty, much of our education system has been captured by ideologues who program young people against our country's history and principles — causing disaster in our colleges and our streets. Advertisement It is the duty of every free citizen who cares about our country to stand against this perversion of our educational system. After communism's economic collapse, Marxist theorists didn't disappear, but simply changed strategies. Instead of class warfare between workers and owners, today's neo-Marxists divide society along cultural and identity lines: race, gender, sexuality. They've successfully infiltrated key institutions — universities, corporations and government agencies — where they now push radical theories that paint America as inherently oppressive. Advertisement The tactics are more subtle than those of the old Soviet Union, but the ideology remains just as hostile to individual liberty and the merit-based values that built American prosperity. Over decades, Marxist theorists recast education as a form of political activism. Their influence can be seen clearly in the rise of critical race theory within school curricula. In 2021, the head of Detroit's public schools admitted: 'Our curriculum is deeply using critical race theory, especially in social studies, but you'll find it in English language arts and the other disciplines. We were very intentional about embedding it.' Advertisement Yet our students are taught little to nothing about Mao's China, where over a million landlords were slaughtered and forced collectivization triggered the deadliest famine in history — so extreme that desperate families resorted to cannibalism. Up to 55 million people perished, a death toll larger than the combined populations of Florida and Texas. How many students ever hear about how Stalin's communists seized Ukrainian farmers' food, leaving millions to die gnawing on tree bark and grass? Or about North Korea's modern gulags, where prisoners lose limbs to frostbite after grueling 16-hour shifts on starvation rations? No: Instead of exposing atrocities, schools sanitize communism, repackaging it in euphemisms like 'equity' and 'social justice.' But history shows what those words meant in practice: in China, for instance, 'equity' meant dividing up food from seized farms equally, destroying incentives and causing famine. To Mao's Red Guards, 'social justice' meant making family members torture each other in 'struggle sessions.' If students were taught that this — and not free health care and housing in Scandinavia — is socialism, would they still sympathize with Marxist ideas? Advertisement Keep up with today's most important news Stay up on the very latest with Evening Update. Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters Moreover, we can't just teach students about gulags and famines, but also about the evolution of communist ideas to the present day. That will arm them with the knowledge and critical judgment to resist passively accepting whatever some future sociology professor tells them. That's why we're proud to have helped create and fund 'Liberty Over Communism,' a new high school program produced by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. Advertisement This comprehensive curriculum — combining historical analysis, survivor testimonies and modern-day applications — is teaching students both the brutal realities of communism and how its ideas have morphed into seemingly benign modern movements. Nothing in our Constitution requires taxpayers to fund communist indoctrination in our schools. But many schools and teachers are unlikely to teach this material voluntarily — and some even sympathize with these destructive ideologies. So legislation is essential. Lawmakers in Texas — led by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Sen. Donna Campbell and Rep. Jeff Leach — recently passed a bill I'm proud to have helped develop through the Cicero Institute. Advertisement It requires Texas schools to teach the truth about communism: the mass killings, the famines, the propaganda, and how those same ideas are showing up today under new, attractive branding. Students, starting in 4th grade, will learn how communist regimes crushed freedom — and how those tactics are still being used to silence dissent and push collectivist ideologies in America. And they won't just learn the 20th-century history: The bill requires content about current-day threats to the United States and its allies posed by communist regimes and activists, the evolution of communism from economic and class-based theories into broader cultural movements dividing our society, and modern methods used to spread them. Advertisement The battle for liberty begins at home — and in the classroom. As Jefferson warned, no nation can remain simultaneously ignorant and free. Joe Lonsdale is the co-founder of Palantir and managing partner of 8VC. Adapted from the Joe Lonsdale Substack.
