Singapore, China Plan Reciprocal 30-day Visa-free Entry

SINGAPORE:
Singapore and China will put in place a 30-day mutual visa exemption agreement early next year, the Singapore foreign ministry said on Thursday.

“Both countries will work out the implementation details of the mutual 30-day visa exemption arrangement and implement it in early 2024,” the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. Thailand and Malaysia also have exempted visas for Chinese tourists.

Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who is also Singapore’s finance minister, is on a visit to Tianjin city and Beijing. Wong is co-chairing the 19th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) in Tianjin on Thursday. He said personnel exchanges between the two sides were increasing, with flights between both countries recovering to close to pre-pandemic levels, Singapore’s main Chinese language paper Lianhe Zaobao reported on Thursday.

“The 30-day mutual visa exemption arrangement between our two countries will also support such progress, which can promote more personnel exchanges and strengthen the cornerstone of bilateral relations,” the paper quoted him as saying. This year, China resumed 15-day visa-free entry for citizens of Singapore, more than three years after such visas were suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic. China has been eager for the agreement to become reciprocal, Reuters reported in May, citing Beijing’s 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.