Chao News reporter Ding Shan, Ying Tao, Ye Yilin.
On December 1, the implementation of the new policy of "visa-free for six countries" indicates that the door to a new round of high-level opening up in China is opening wider and wider.
At about 10:25 a.m., flight JD622 landed at Hangzhou International Xiaoshan Airport, and Hangzhou ushered in the first batch of overseas passengers who enjoyed the new policy of "unilateral visa-free entry from six countries". After the fast customs clearance, Úbeda Espíjuan Rafael from Spain said to everyone with a smile, "This is my sixth visit to China this year, but my first visa-free entry. Urbeda arrived with a visa-free visa, along with a French traveller who was embarking on a two-day trip to Hangzhou.
On December 1, Hangzhou welcomed the first batch of overseas tourists who enjoyed the visa-free policy, and on the left is the Spaniard Úbeda Espíjuán Rafael who has just landed. Photo by reporter Ma Saijie.
From December 1 this year to November 30 next year, ordinary passport holders from six countries, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia, who come to China for business, sightseeing, visiting relatives and friends, and transiting for no more than 15 days, can enter China without visas.
This is the first time that China has directly and unilaterally opened visa-free access to Western countries, which is conducive to enhancing economic, political and cultural exchanges between countries, and also clearly conveys China's determination to continue to expand its opening up to the outside world. Xue Tianhang, deputy director of the Regional Coordinated Development Research Center of Zhejiang University, a national high-end think tank, commented.
Looking back at this year's timeline, China has adopted a series of positive new entry policies: in July, it unilaterally exempted Singapore and Brunei from visas;In November, the 72,144-hour transit visa-free policy was extended to 54 countriesThen, on December 1, the scope of unilateral visa exemption was increased from 2 to 8 countries...
Why is China's door opening wider and wider?Why did you choose this time to target these six countries?Chao News reporters visited relevant departments and experts to deeply interpret the opportunities and vitality that the new deal will bring to China.
Who benefits the most from the visa-free policy?
Compared with the visa width of Western countries in major tourist countries such as Thailand, it is not easy to obtain a visa to China, which is a common feeling of many international business people.
A staff member of a travel agency once said, "If a German inbound tourist wants to obtain a visa to China, he needs to apply for a visa in advance and fill in a 16-page **."
Since the beginning of this year, China has continued to optimize the visa processing experience for foreigners to China. From August to the end of the year, eligible applicants will be temporarily exempted from fingerprint collectionIn September this year, the new version of the visa application form for foreigners to China was launched, reducing 7 major items and 15 sub-items, and optimizing and simplifying by 34%...
China's visa-free "big move" will bring convenience to citizens of the above six countries - if they want to visit China in the short term, they do not need to submit documents in advance, do not need to wait for approval, just need to bring ordinary passports, take international flights, just like flying from Hangzhou to Beijing.
The new visa-free policy has once again greatly improved the convenience of entering China, making it a reality for foreigners to visit China "as soon as they say", and face-to-face communication has become the norm.
So from the new visa-free policy, which type of people feel the most direct?Due to the 15-day time limit, the people involved generally come to China temporarily, mostly for business, tourism and to participate in academic conferences. One of the core characteristics of this group of people is that they are the "messengers" of international exchange.
Liang Jianzhang, co-founder of Trip.com Group, believes that personnel exchanges are the most in-depth international exchanges. The key element of scientific and technological innovation is to enable international exchanges between Chinese researchers and researchers from all over the world without barriers.
This view is also recognized by Guo Xiaoyu, head of the International Cooperation Department of Westlake University. Since the beginning of this year, Westlake University has held more than 6 large-scale international academic conferences, attracting nearly 1,000 scientists, researchers and international students from all over the world to visit Hangzhou. "After the new policy, there will be more visiting scholars and experts at Westlake University, which will inject vitality into the promotion of scientific research cooperation. ”
Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport.
Commodity and financial exchanges are equally important. "I used to apply for a multiple-entry visa, and the visa application process was complicated and time-consuming. Ubeda, a Spaniard who arrived in Hangzhou on December 1, said that he came to Yiwu, Zhejiang Province more than 20 years ago to do business, and sold more than 20,000 kinds of products. ”
Seeing the news of the "visa-free for six countries", Xu Zhucheng, a tour guide at the Hangzhou English Tour Guide Studio, felt that it was time to return to the industry. According to data from the World Tourism Alliance, Hangzhou ranked 5th in the country in terms of the number of inbound overnight tourists received in 2019. But the past three years have been stagnant, and the experienced tour guide has had to change careers. "With the blessing of the policy, there will definitely be more tourists in the first country, and I can devote myself to this industry again. ”
In addition to the direct feelings of micro individuals, there are also industry data that take the lead in embracing policy dividends. "At the beginning of January this year, the load factor of flights from Singapore to Hangzhou was about 567%。After the visa-free operation between China and Singapore in July, the latest load factor has risen to 81% and the number of weekly departures has increased from two to nine. The relevant person in charge of the market development department of Zhejiang Airport Group believes that the visa-free Singapore is a reference, and she believes that the international aviation market will burst into greater vitality in the future.
Enjoy the visa-free policy, why these six countries?
The leniency and strictness of the visa policy not only reflects the country's open-mindedness, but also serves as a powerful economic "control valve". "One of the purposes of this policy is to pull inbound tourism as quickly as possible. Industry experts commented.
Horizontal and vertical comparison, China's inbound tourism potential is huge. Compared with itself, in the first half of 2023, the number of inbound tourists received by travel agencies across the country will be 47780,000, compared to 856 in the first half of 2019160,000 passengers, the recovery of inbound tourism is relatively slow. Compared with the international market, taking 2019 as an example, China's inbound tourism revenue accounts for about 0 percent of GDP5%。Thailand accounted for 119% and France accounted for 24%。
Trip.com Group CEO Sun Jie**, if it is raised to the international median, it will reach 15%, will bring at least nearly 13 trillion yuan of growth space. ”
In order to allow more backpackers to come in frequently, optimizing visas is undoubtedly the most realistic and direct policy with the most obvious effect.
A closer look at the list of visa-free policies reveals that France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, five-sixths are EU member states, and Malaysia is an important partner of ASEAN.
The six countries exempted from visa this time all have close relations with China, which is reflected in more business cooperation, more exchanges, more cultural exchanges, and more sightseeing. Xue Tianhang, deputy director of the Regional Coordinated Development Research Center of Zhejiang University, a national high-end think tank, believes. From January to September this year, Zhejiang's actual use of foreign capital was 181800 million US dollars, 37200 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 11188%。
However, there is a "temperature difference" between the regional economy and the global economy. According to the World Investment Report 2023, global foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 12% year-on-year in 2022, and the decline has not been reversed this year, with a preliminary forecast of 25% year-on-year decline in the first quarter. China's visa-free policy for EU countries will promote investment and transactions in the Central European region, effectively combat economic headwinds, and become an important force in enhancing the vitality of the global economy.
Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport.
In addition to economic "considerations", there is also the need for people-to-people exchanges. This year is the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Spain, and a series of cultural exchange activities such as conferences and exhibitions are abundant, some of which will continue until next year. Next year will be the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, and after the relaxation of the country, the two sides will be more facilitated, which will contribute to in-depth people-to-people exchanges and release unlimited vitality.
The other one-sixth of the visa-free Malaysia countries were among the first countries to support and participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, and are also the beneficiaries of several projects under the initiative. "In the future, there is great potential for cooperation between China and Malaysia, and Malaysia has expressed its hope to deepen cooperation with China in the fields of digital economy, and expand educational, cultural and sports and people-to-people exchanges," Xue Tianhang believes that the visa-free policy is a positive response from China, and allows Malaysia to form a linkage effect with Brunei and Singapore, and promote further communication and exchanges along the Belt and Road.
It is worth mentioning that shortly after China's policy announcement, Malaysia reciprocated by announcing that it would implement visa-free access for Chinese citizens within 30 days from December 1.
After the door is opened, what are the shortcomings of international services that need to be filled?
In addition to the active immigration policy, China has been releasing signals of expanding opening up in many fields, opening its arms to the world, and inviting all walks of life around the world to join hands with China for common development.
Completely abolish the restrictive measures for foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector, reduce tariffs, and shorten the negative list for foreign investment access...In recent years, China's belief and attitude of continuing to promote greater opening-up and creating a more level playing field have never changed. Xue Tianhang analyzed.
The unilateral visa-free policy allows the world to see China's determination to promote economic globalization and conveys China's belief in openness and inclusiveness and willingness to work with other countries to build an open world economy.
A good policy also needs a series of good services to implement it in detail.
The relevant person in charge of the market development department of Zhejiang Airport Group told reporters, "Next, Zhejiang will continue to deploy international flights from visa-free countries such as Paris, France and Frankfurt, Germany on the basis of 58 international and regional passenger navigation points, so as to provide more convenient channels for passengers." ”
The Hangzhou Entry-Exit Border Inspection Station has communicated and coordinated with airlines, customs and other on-site units to further optimize customs clearance procedures, and is equipped with English, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese language interpreters to cope with the peak passenger flow.
Arrival hall of Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport.
However, cross-border flow is not only to dredge the "joints" of entry, but also many pain points and blockages that occur during life and tourism in China, and the leading cities in China are also doing their best to speed up the shortcomings of "internationalization".
In the face of an unfamiliar payment environment, the first choice for inbound tourists is to exchange cash. A staff member of a travel agency in Zhejiang told reporters that before the Asian Games, Hangzhou effectively facilitated international tourists by covering a large area of merchants that accept foreign currency credit cards and increasing foreign currency exchange points. "Although it is convenient to click on the mobile phone, it is not Xi for foreign tourists. It is recommended that major scenic spots and museums retain the traditional channels for purchasing tickets and making reservations, and merchants should also keep cash on hand to facilitate inbound tourists. ”
Considering the huge demand for credit card payment in the business travel sector, the country has also been committed to promoting the continuous smooth flow of consumer payments at home and abroad.
On November 17, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) officially approved the application of a U.S. Mastercard clearing institution to enter the Chinese market. "This move is of far-reaching significance, and it is a landmark event for China's financial industry to open up to the outside world, which is not only conducive to entering, but also conducive to the renminbi going global with foreign trade and Chinese tourists. "Analysis of financial insiders in the industry.
The flow of foreigners across cities in China has also become smoother. Since November 28, the railway department has optimized the travel of foreign passengers and launched the identity verification service for foreign passports**. Previously, foreign passengers** were required to go to the railway station window for verification after purchasing tickets.
Hearing the news, Muhammad Bilal Khan, a Pakistani who often travels back and forth between Hangzhou and Shaoxing and Yiwu, said happily, "In the future, I will save at least 10 minutes by taking the train." ”
Also on December 1, 50 foreigners received a new version of the People's Republic of China Foreigner's Permanent Residence Identity Card (Five-Star Card), which will allow them to use the Five-Star Card as a separate personal identity document when they need to prove their identity, without having to show their foreign passport.
Behind the succession of favorable policies is China's sincerity and determination to make overseas talents better invest and start businesses in China, and make it easier for them to work and live. This makes people even more convinced that China's door to opening up is not only opening wider and wider, but also involves a high level of opening up in many fields.
However, there are still problems to be solved. In the past, foreigners have participated in relevant surveys of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and look forward to building more overseas living environments, such as more diverse cultural exchange opportunities, as well as smoother medical treatment in China and children's schooling.
Liang Jianzhang, co-founder of Trip.com Group, suggested actively introducing international service industries, such as international medical care and education. This will not only enhance the internationalization level of Chinese cities, but also stimulate investment in related industries.
This is not only a process for China to embrace the world, but also a process for the world to move towards China. I believe that a more open China will surely bring more opportunities to the world and China.
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