TIANJIN, China: Singapore and China on Thursday (Dec 7) introduced that they may set up a 30-day mutual visa exemption settlement between each international locations, amid a post-pandemic enchancment in flight connectivity.
The proposal was introduced through the nineteenth Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) assembly – the highest-level annual bilateral discussion board between each international locations – held on the Hilton Tianjin Eco-City resort with a variety of agreements set to be signed.
This is the primary JCBC assembly to be co-chaired by Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang.
At the beginning of the assembly, Mr Ding famous how the variety of Chinese college students finding out in Singapore has exceeded 40,000, principally recovering to pre-pandemic ranges.
He added that the visa-free association would “provide greater convenience for people-to-people exchanges”.
Mr Wong stated Singapore hopes to even transcend pre-pandemic ranges when it comes to direct flight connectivity.
“This will likely be supported additionally by a mutual 30-day visa-free association between our two international locations, which is able to allow extra people-to-people exchanges, thereby fortifying the bedrock of our bilateral relations,” he added.
More particulars on the visa-free journey regime, together with when it should come into impact and the way will probably be carried out, haven’t been revealed but.
Chinese residents at present require a visa to enter Singapore.
Singaporeans holding bizarre passports can enter China with out a visa for 15 days if they’re travelling for enterprise, sightseeing, visiting family members and mates, and in transit.
China resumed this association in July, greater than three years after it was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This got here on the heels of an improve in Singapore-China relations to an “All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership”, after Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong visited Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in March throughout an official go to.
The JCBC opinions the substantive collaboration between Singapore and China and charts the route of cooperation.
Mr Wong, who’s on a four-day official go to to Beijing and Tianjin, stated throughout a bilateral assembly on Wednesday that he was trying ahead to signing greater than 20 memoranda of understanding and agreements on the JCBC assembly.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/singapore-china-30-day-mutual-visa-free-arrangement-3971566
