Thailand and Malaysia have waived visas for Chinese tourists.
Singapore and China will put into effect a mutual 30-day visa waiver agreement early next year, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Thursday.
“The two countries will work on the main points of the mutual 30-day visa waiver agreement and bring it into force in early 2024,” Singapore’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Thailand and Malaysia also have exempted visas for Chinese tourists.
Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who is Singapore’s finance minister, is visiting Tianjin and Beijing. Wong co-chairs the 19th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) in Tianjin on Thursday.
He said exchanges between the two sides are intensifying and flights between the two countries are returning to levels close to pre-pandemic levels, Singapore’s leading Chinese-language newspaper, Lianhe Zaobao, reported on Thursday.
“The 30-day mutual visa waiver agreement between our two countries will also help that progress, which can promote greater worker exchange and be the cornerstone of bilateral relations,” he said, according to the newspaper.
This year, China restored 15-day visa-free access for Singapore citizens, more than three years after such visas were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. China is willing to make the deal reciprocal, Reuters reported in May, citing the embassy.
Singapore’s central bank and the People’s Bank of China are also starting a pilot programme to allow travellers from both countries to use China’s e-CNY digital currency for tourism spending in Singapore and China, the Monetary Authority of Singapore announced on Thursday. (Reporting by Brenda Goh and Xinghui Kok; Editing by Gerry Doyle)
Reuters
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