Editorial | China to feel benefit of more visa-free visitors
Beijing’s extension of scheme to 25 countries aims to create warmer relations and boost struggling economy
For the pandemic years, China was effectively closed to foreign tourism, its tight controls on quarantine and isolation staunching the flow of visitors from abroad. These days China appears to be trying to make up for lost time as it seeks to revive still flagging visitor numbers and bolster international relations.
Since Friday, nationals from South Korea, Norway, Finland, Slovakia and five other countries have 15 days’ visa-free entry for business, tourism, family visits or transit.
China has been easing restrictions on foreign visitors to help provide a boost to its struggling economy and to promote people-to-people exchanges to counter strains with the United States, Europe and some Asian neighbours.
The special treatment in some cases coincided with warming relations. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who met President Xi Jinping last week, welcomed Chinese clean energy investment and expressed a willingness to join a group led by China and Brazil seeking a political settlement to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Slovakia also opposes European Union tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. The announcement came shortly after Xi’s meeting with Fico, expanding the total list of countries with visa-free access to 25.
