China has confirmed that nationals of the United Kingdom and Canada will be allowed to enter mainland China without a visa for stays of up to 30 days starting February 17. The policy, initially valid until December 31, applies to tourism, business travel, and visits to family and friends.
The announcement follows UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s recent visit to China, where he met President Xi Jinping and agreed to relax travel rules. Supporters say the move will boost business and people-to-people exchanges, while critics raise human rights and security concerns.
Sudden-Conclusion931 on
No thanks. My rule with tourism now is: ‘If I need a burner phone to go there safely, I’m not going there for leisure’.
LegitimateCompote377 on
Very good news. In a world order with a less reliable US the UK should really be buddying up with the EU and coming closer to other powers like Brazil, China or India.
Not towing Americas line as countless Tory and Labour governments have done dragging us into their problems and their wars only to get scammed from it, most recently in the Houthi conflict where despite our help they wrote us out of a deal that would let our ships travel safely meanwhile US ships would not be attacked.
Strict_Pie_9834 on
Visit shenzhen, for real.
it’s a tech’s paradise, place is amazing
jeanclaudebrowncloud on
“Friendship ended with USA, now China is best friend.”
stuckinabox123 on
Because the country prepping to invade Taiwan, already suppresses countless other peoples thy have conquered, and is nearly solely responsible for half the oceans issues is now the good guy somehow.
How many on Reddit are actually just CCP bots? “Very good, China is the model country! Tech! Multipolar world order! America is unreliable (please ignore what we do and just listen to what we say)”
merryman1 on
I was out there for work and have been really interested in going back as a tourist but the visa was always a huge barrier, so this is great news. If anyone is curious I do really recommend taking the dive and visiting. Its a long journey but its a hell of an experience, its now a very modern country but still quite a strong culture shock at times. Prices on a lot of goods and things like hotel rates and taxi fares are just absurd, like hard to believe at first.
patxi124 on
Well that sucks, I paid for a 2 year visa and still have 14 months remaining 😭
iamapizza on
I’d love to visit, I’m more interested in nature, mountains and hiking rather than high tech cities. Do they have a Lake District equivalent?
ECHOHOHOHO on
Can’t wait to go I’ve seen hotel plus flight from ldn to Shenzhen for 500ish return…. Will probably book in a couple week
Imwaymoreflythanyou on
Been planning to go for a while, can someone confirm what the VISA application process is now after this change ? Always heard stories of how it’s a lengthy process and you have to go to the embassy in London etc etc etc.
Goosepond01 on
Always so so so so interesting how Reddit is rightfully hyper critical of the US and Russia, yet when it comes to China people just put on a blindfold when it’s anything bad and lap up anything positive, or at least positive on the outside, or frankly anything that looks cool, fast trains, buildings covered in LEDs stuff like that.
If this was anything and I mean anything to do with the US we would be hearing about how barbaric ICE are, how authoritarian and awful Trump/the republicans are, how the media is biased and a million other valid bits of critique… but China, barely anything.
We need to keep ALL authoritarian countries at arms length and continue to expose their leaders and people who support those leaders and not tolerate propaganda, the UK and Europe must work with other democracies as hard as possible to distance ourselves from authoritarians.
and no “but they are more rational and calm” is not an argument, an authoritarian one party state being more cold, collective and smarter than Trump/Republicans is NOT a good thing, it’s just a different side of a terrible coin
12 Comments
China has confirmed that nationals of the United Kingdom and Canada will be allowed to enter mainland China without a visa for stays of up to 30 days starting February 17. The policy, initially valid until December 31, applies to tourism, business travel, and visits to family and friends.
The announcement follows UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s recent visit to China, where he met President Xi Jinping and agreed to relax travel rules. Supporters say the move will boost business and people-to-people exchanges, while critics raise human rights and security concerns.
No thanks. My rule with tourism now is: ‘If I need a burner phone to go there safely, I’m not going there for leisure’.
Very good news. In a world order with a less reliable US the UK should really be buddying up with the EU and coming closer to other powers like Brazil, China or India.
Not towing Americas line as countless Tory and Labour governments have done dragging us into their problems and their wars only to get scammed from it, most recently in the Houthi conflict where despite our help they wrote us out of a deal that would let our ships travel safely meanwhile US ships would not be attacked.
Visit shenzhen, for real.
it’s a tech’s paradise, place is amazing
“Friendship ended with USA, now China is best friend.”
Because the country prepping to invade Taiwan, already suppresses countless other peoples thy have conquered, and is nearly solely responsible for half the oceans issues is now the good guy somehow.
How many on Reddit are actually just CCP bots? “Very good, China is the model country! Tech! Multipolar world order! America is unreliable (please ignore what we do and just listen to what we say)”
I was out there for work and have been really interested in going back as a tourist but the visa was always a huge barrier, so this is great news. If anyone is curious I do really recommend taking the dive and visiting. Its a long journey but its a hell of an experience, its now a very modern country but still quite a strong culture shock at times. Prices on a lot of goods and things like hotel rates and taxi fares are just absurd, like hard to believe at first.
Well that sucks, I paid for a 2 year visa and still have 14 months remaining 😭
I’d love to visit, I’m more interested in nature, mountains and hiking rather than high tech cities. Do they have a Lake District equivalent?
Can’t wait to go I’ve seen hotel plus flight from ldn to Shenzhen for 500ish return…. Will probably book in a couple week
Been planning to go for a while, can someone confirm what the VISA application process is now after this change ? Always heard stories of how it’s a lengthy process and you have to go to the embassy in London etc etc etc.
Always so so so so interesting how Reddit is rightfully hyper critical of the US and Russia, yet when it comes to China people just put on a blindfold when it’s anything bad and lap up anything positive, or at least positive on the outside, or frankly anything that looks cool, fast trains, buildings covered in LEDs stuff like that.
If this was anything and I mean anything to do with the US we would be hearing about how barbaric ICE are, how authoritarian and awful Trump/the republicans are, how the media is biased and a million other valid bits of critique… but China, barely anything.
We need to keep ALL authoritarian countries at arms length and continue to expose their leaders and people who support those leaders and not tolerate propaganda, the UK and Europe must work with other democracies as hard as possible to distance ourselves from authoritarians.
and no “but they are more rational and calm” is not an argument, an authoritarian one party state being more cold, collective and smarter than Trump/Republicans is NOT a good thing, it’s just a different side of a terrible coin