China resumes issuing visas for foreign tourists after three years – DW

14.03.2023

The Chinese official stated that the issuance of visas for foreign tourists to China will resume from the 15th. This is a major relaxation of the Chinese authorities after the outbreak of the new crown epidemic and three years of strict lockdown. What are the specific measures?

(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) The Chinese embassy in the United States stated on its official website on Wednesday (March 13) that in order to further facilitate the exchange of Chinese and foreign personnel, it has decided to “resume March 2020 from 0:00 on March 15, Beijing time.” The entry function of visas issued before the 28th and still within the validity period; visa agencies stationed abroad resume the review and issuance of various types of visas for foreigners to go to China; port visa agencies resume the review and issuance of various port visas that meet statutory reasons.

In addition, China will simultaneously restore the visa-free policies for entry into Hainan, visa-free entry for cruise ships in Shanghai, visa-free entry for foreigners from Hong Kong and Macau in groups entering Guangdong, and visa-free entry for ASEAN tour groups in Guilin, Guangxi.

China reopens to tourists, echoes two sessionsFocus on stabilizing the economypolitical focus.Li Qiang, as the new prime minister,The first show of the press conference held on the 13thOn the meeting, it emphasized that it will unswervingly expand opening up to the outside world, and also released a signal of welcoming foreign investment, saying that “open China welcomes everyone to invest and start a business”, and locked in the recovery of economic growth, and set this year’s GDP growth target at about 5%.

On the 13th, before the period of the two sessions, the Chinese official media “People’s Daily” had a headline “China’s widening and opening up has a strong attraction”, writing that “in the past, China’s economic development achievements were achieved under open conditions; in the future, China’s economic development High-quality development must be carried out under more open conditions.”

In the past three years, the strict zero-clearing policy of the Chinese authorities has impacted the country’s economy. At the end of last year, the anti-epidemic measures were suddenly lifted after public protests broke out, and the mandatory quarantine of incoming passengers ended on January 8. Since then, China has continued to loosen its border policy in stages.

Beginning in March, the authorities have relaxed the testing measures for new crowns coming from a small number of countries including New Zealand, Russia and Malaysia. Passengers now only need to provide a negative rapid antigen test to be allowed to board a flight to China. However, the authorities still require passengers from a series of countries including the United States to provide PCR tests before boarding the plane. The United States announced last week that it will cancel the entry nucleic acid test requirements for Chinese passengers.

(Chinese Embassy in the United States, People’s Daily, Bloomberg, etc.)

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