China offers visa-free entry for citizens of France, Germany, and Italy.

To encourage post-pandemic travel, China will, for a limited time, waive the need for visitors to the world’s second-largest economy to have a valid visa to enter the country. This exemption will apply to French, German, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, and Malaysian nationals.

A spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday that citizens of specific countries wouldn’t need a visa to enter China for travel, business, visiting family and friends, or transiting for no longer than 15 days starting on December 1 and continuing through November 30 of the following year.

Following three years of stringent COVID-19 restrictions that essentially locked its borders to the outside world, China has taken initiatives to restore its tourist sector in recent months, including reopening international air routes. Among these moves is the restoration of international flight routes.

Following a series of disagreements with several Western nations on various topics, including COVID, human rights, Taiwan, and trade, the government is also working to improve its reputation in other parts of the world.

A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center in 24 different nations found that opinions of China were predominantly negative, with 67% of individuals having unfavorable views of the country.

More than half of those who participated in the survey said that China meddled in other nation’s internal politics and did not consider such countries’ interests.

Patricia Flor, Germany’s ambassador to China, made these remarks on the social media site X, formerly Twitter. “This decision will facilitate travel to China for many German citizens to an unprecedented extent,” she stated.

“We hope that the Chinese government will implement the measures announced today for all EU member states,” added the representative.

According to her statements, the granting of visa-free travel to Germany for citizens of China would be conceivable only if all parties to the European Schengen Agreement gave their consent.

Catherine Colonna, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, is now in Beijing. She posted the following message on X while she was there: “An excellent new announcement on the occasion of my visit from my counterpart Wang Yi!”

This month, China increased the number of nations eligible for its visa-free transit program to 54, including people from Norway.

In August, China did away with all of its COVID test requirements for visitors entering the country. In July, it started allowing people from Singapore and Brunei to enter without a visa for 15 days.

Although they are recovering more slowly than services on the domestic network, international flights into and out of the country have begun picking up recently.

In October, the authorities in charge of aviation in China announced that they anticipated 16,680 weekly flights between November and March, with the number of passenger flights anticipated to reach 71% of the amount from four years earlier.

According to the European Chamber of Commerce in China, this action will strengthen business confidence. “It is a positive that the authorities are taking steps to facilitate people-to-people exchanges,” according to the report.