China announces visa-free policy trial for Russia

The Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that China decided to trial visa-free policy for Russian ordinary passport holders starting from Sept 15, 2025 to Sept 14, 2026.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun made the announcement at a regular press conference in Beijing.

To further facilitate exchanges between Chinese citizens and the citizens of other nations, China has decided to expand the number of countries on its visa-free list, Guo said.

"Russian holders of ordinary passports who come to China for doing business, traveling and sightseeing, visiting relatives and friends, exchange visits, and transit for no more than 30 days can enter the country visa-free."

Guo added that, under the strategic guidance of the heads of state of both countries, China-Russia relations have been consistently in a good shape.

China attaches great importance to the facilitation of people-to-people exchanges between the two countries and wants the people of both countries to increase exchanges and make active contributions to the promotion of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the new era, he said.

"We welcome more Russian friends coming to China more often," he said.