Chinese vice premier meets guests from Switzerland, Japan

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Monday respectively met with Swiss Federal Councilor Guy Parmelin, also head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research, and Yohei Kono, president of the Japan Association for the Promotion of International Trade (JAPIT) and a delegation from the Japanese business community headed by Kono in Beijing.

When meeting with Parmelin, He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that China is willing to work with Switzerland to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, deepen and expand practical cooperation in economic and trade fields, upgrade the level of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and push forward the China-Switzerland innovative strategic partnership.

Parmelin said Switzerland is ready to strengthen trade and investment cooperation with China and push bilateral economic and trade relations to a new level.

When meeting with Kono and the delegation from the Japanese business community visiting China, He extended warm congratulations on the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the JAPIT.

He expressed the hope that the JAPIT will better play the role of a bridge and continue to be a practitioner of the China-Japan friendship, a promoter of mutually beneficial cooperation, and a defender of the stability of the global industrial and supply chains.

China is firmly committed to high-level opening up and welcomes Japanese companies to expand investment and cooperation with China further, He said.

For his part, Kono said the JAPIT will continue to promote Japan-China economic and trade exchanges and make new contributions to Japan-China friendship.

Chinese vice premier meets guests from Switzerland, Japan

China recorded 14.64 million inbound trips made by foreigners in the first half of this year, up 152.7 percent year on year, the National Immigration Administration said Friday.

The visa-free entries made by foreigners exceeded 8.54 million, accounting for 52 percent of the inbound trips and representing a year-on-year surge of 190.1 percent, according to the administration.

"Since last year, China has successively implemented unilateral visa-free policies to 15 countries including France, Germany, and Australia. Holders of ordinary passports from these countries could enter China visa-free for business, tourism, family visits and transit and stay for up to 15 days. China has also signed mutual visa exemption agreements with seven countries including Singapore and Thailand," said Lin Yongsheng, spokesman of the National Immigration Administration.

The implementation of a series of relevant policies has played a positive role in promoting mutual trust, trade, and personnel exchanges between China and other countries, Lin said, adding that more foreigners are expected to come to China in the second half of this year.

In the first six months of the year, immigration authorities across China had also processed 287 million inbound and outbound trips, marking a 70.9-percent rise year on year.

Among them, 137 million were made by mainland residents, 121 million by residents from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and the Taiwan region, and 29.22 million by foreigners.

China logs 14.64 million inbound trips by foreigners in H1