China aims to ease foreign travel with visa-free deals

The Chinese government has been trying its best to pave the way for mainland residents to visit other countries for tourism or business with more convenience, said a Chinese foreign ministry official.

Huang Ping, director-general of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made the response to public complaints that "only undeveloped countries sign visa-free deals with China," reported the Beijing Youth Daily Wednesday.

Huang said the strict and tedious visa requirements from some countries are the result of relatively fewer tourism and business exchanges between China and the rest of the world in the past, plus some illegal immigration cases.

Chinese people's rapidly increasing outbound exchanges have meant many countries have changed their thinking, but adjustments to their visa policies would involve multiple authorities or even legislation amendments, which will take time, said Huang.

Huang noted that China will push forward negotiations with foreign countries to boost trust and to simplify visa application procedures for residents of the Chinese mainland.

The ministry is also working hard to strengthen cooperation to prevent and combat illegal immigration, in order to sign simpler visa deals with more countries.

More than 98 million residents from the Chinese mainland visited foreign countries in 2013, with an expected number of 150 million travelers by 2020, according to Huang.