As the US increasingly restricts the people who can come to the US and hassles people at the border who come here and thus discourages visitors, China has gone in the opposite direction. It has added more than 70 countries to its list of those whose citizens can get visa-free entry for 30 days, thus promoting tourism. Many countries are excluded from this relaxation, including the US, UK, Canada, Russia..

In December 2023, China announced visa-free entry for citizens of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia. Almost all of Europe has been added since then. Travelers from five Latin American countries and Uzbekistan became eligible last month, followed by four in the Middle East. The total will grow to 75 on July 16 with the addition of Azerbaijan.

About two-thirds of the countries have been granted visa-free entry on a one-year trial basis.
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Those from 10 countries not in the visa-free scheme have another option: entering China for up to 10 days if they depart for a different country than the one they came from. The policy is limited to 60 ports of entry, according to the country’s National Immigration Administration.

The transit policy applies to 55 countries, but most are also on the 30-day visa-free entry list. It does offer a more restrictive option for citizens of the 10 countries that aren’t: the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Sweden, Russia, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Indonesia, Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

Aside from the U.K., Sweden is the only other high-income European country that didn’t make the 30-day list. Ties with China have frayed since the ruling Chinese Communist Party sentenced a Swedish book seller, Gui Minhai, to prison for 10 years in 2020. Gui disappeared in 2015 from his seaside home in Thailand but turned up months later in police custody in mainland China.

China is clearly seeking to take advantage of the US’s decreasing attractiveness as a tourist destination.