China ready to share opportunities, benefits with world: spokesman

As a significant driving force for strengthening global connectivity, China stands ready to share opportunities and benefits with the world, said a Foreign Ministry spokesman at a press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.

Guo Jiakun, the spokesman, made the statement in response to a media inquiry on the fruitful cooperation between China and other countries in promoting global connectivity.

China is an important driving force for strengthening global connectivity and over the recent period the country has been making continuous progresses in related cooperation, said Guo.

"We've heard good news recently about connectivity cooperation between China and relevant countries. The China-Europe Railway Express has run over 100,000 trips in total, the total cargo throughput of the China-Laos Railway has exceeded 50 million tonnes, the new western land-sea corridor train service has run over 10,000 trips in the whole year for the first time, the China-Europe Trans-Caspian Express was officially launched, the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway has started, priority projects such as the China-Viet Nam cross-border railway and the Malaysia's East Coast Rail Link have made important progress, and the first ever two-way voyage between Chancay and Shanghai through the new land-sea corridor between China and Latin America has been completed. China has become an important driving force for global connectivity," said Guo.

Strengthening connectivity can help the Global South promote development and China has been increasing related efforts to share benefits and opportunities with the world through high-quality development and high-level opening up, said Guo.

"Connectivity is one of the important cooperation areas under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and meets the Global South's aspiration for 'empowering development' China last week unveiled 15 measures aimed at advancing large-scale development of the western region, and the country will take synergized efforts in building an international logistics corridor to forge an all-round opening up paradigm at a faster pace that connects China and the world through land and sea as well as the eastern and western regions of the nation. We will uphold the principle of extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefit, expand new space for win-win development at a higher level and with greater resilience and sustainability, share with the world opportunities and dividends with China's high-quality development and high-standard opening up, and help Global South countries realize modernization," said Guo.

China ready to share opportunities, benefits with world: spokesman

Starting from Jan 1, "Beijing Service," a service platform backed by the Beijing municipal government, extended its coverage to the city's two international airports, setting up 24-hour kiosks to facilitate visitors from abroad.

On the first day of 2025, two Beijing Service kiosks near the international arrivals areas of Beijing's Capital International Airport and Daxing International Airport were put into use, with well-trained staff providing 24-hour multilingual services for global travelers.

"This year we have set up service stations in Beijing's Capital International Airport and Daxing International Airport to provide travelers with one-stop services including payment setup, mobile phone services, and transport and tourism consultation, covering four categories of more than 20 convenient services. The services aim to further facilitate foreigners to study, travel, or live in Beijing, and to upgrade the level of Beijing's international services," said Zhang Li, division chief of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Government Services and Data Management.

The move came after the city's recent poll with international visitors on what could be done to improve their experience in China, aiming to better support the surging global visitors brought by the country's visa-free policies.

The Beijing Service platform can now provide a one-stop solution to newcomers, and address most of the common concerns of foreign travelers.

"So far, I haven't had any problems, and it seems quite straightforward and it's easy to follow the instructions, everyone gives clear instructions, so it's quite easy to follow. So far everyone I have talked to is able to give feedback (on) what I needed, so it's been good," said Rahima Siddiqui, a traveler from New Zealand.

Beijing Service platform offers one-stop solutions to int'l visitors