China and Singapore have reached a 30-day visa-free agreement. With this 30-day visa waiver, it is much more convenient for Chinese to travel to Singapore. Singaporeans also have a lot less trouble when they come to China for business. In fact, China has not only signed a 30-day visa-free agreement with Singapore, but also Malaysia, Thailand, Russia, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan and other countries. This visa-free agreement was hard-won. In the past, many countries did not like to exempt Chinese from visas. The reason is very simple, that is, too many Chinese take visa-free passports, go out to work in the dark, and do not come back once they go.
As early as 1991, Hungary became the first European country to exempt China from a visa. The visa-free policy was only implemented for a year before it was forced to stop. It's not that there are no Chinese who go to Hungary, but they go too much, and if they don't come back, they will directly stay in the local area to work as a black worker.
But Hungary is only a small country with a population of 7 million, and if such a black industrial chain is formed, it will have a huge impact on the Hungarian social order. In the end, Hungary had no choice but to cancel the visa-free policy, but Hungary is still the most friendly country in the entire European Union and China. Today, China's power battery companies have settled in Hungary on a large scale, making Hungary the largest new energy production base in Europe. Hungary's per capita GDP also rose from $3,400 that year to $1850,000 US dollars, successfully ranked among the ranks of moderately developed countries.
China is not a small country, but the largest country in East Asia in terms of territorial area. There are a total of 27 countries in the European Union, and if you hold a passport from one of them, you can move freely in the 27 countries of the European Union. But these 27 countries are equivalent to 27 provinces in China. There are too many small countries in Europe, and when there are many small countries, there are many visa-free countries.
It is precisely because China is large enough that in international diplomacy, it is not very grouped, and more often, it plays an independent role. Small countries, on the contrary, are particularly fond of huddles. Like Malaysia, the per capita GDP is 1$20,000, about the same as in China. China has only 15 visa-free countries, but Malaysia has 159, ranking sixth in the world in terms of passport gold content.
Malaysia's tourism industry is heavily dependent on foreign tourists. Malaysia needs to rely on foreign tourists to drive its economic growth. Waiver of visas for each other, provided that you are willing to exempt someone else. China is the opposite. Many people don't realize that the number one reason why many overseas countries are reluctant to waive visas to China is not anything else, but that China is unwilling to waive visas to a large number of overseas countries.
Because the visa exemption should follow the principle of reciprocity, China does not exempt the vast majority of countries from visas, and these countries are naturally unwilling to waive visas to China. Because China is a large country with a population of 1.4 billion, if you want to ensure security, you have to strengthen entry control.
However, in recent years, with the large-scale expansion of Chinese enterprises, the deep participation of China's economy in globalization, and the full rollout of the Belt and Road Initiative, there will inevitably be more and more visa-free countries in China. The Chinese must not only go out, but also walk out of self-confidence, and cannot repeat the mistakes of Hungary.