Transcript of the above video:

We don't usually do videos on China and their Immigration Policy specifically but Immigration is a major thrust of what we do on this channel when we talk about other countries down here in Southeast Asia. This recent announcement or what I am going to get to here in a moment, this is actually pretty big news so I thought it was noteworthy for this channel. I thought of making this video after reading online from the China Daily, that is global.chinadaily.com.cn, the article is titled: China announces visa-free travel for five European countries and Malaysia. Quoting directly: "China decided to offer Visa free entry to travelers holding ordinary passports from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia from December 1, 2023 to November 30, 2024, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning announced on Friday. She said that citizens from those countries are able to enter China without a Visa and stay for no more than 15 days for business, tourism, family visits and transit purposes."

I have kind of been noticing, it seems like what some might describe, especially if you are kind of more of a nationalistic bent, kind of a race to the bottom, I don't know if that is the right term, but basically it looks like there is becoming a competition amongst different countries to try and woo tourists and doing that, one of the ways they are trying to do that is by doing these visa exemption programs. If you note, much like Thailand, this program in China is temporary, or at least ostensibly so. As we have discussed here in Thailand, there is now talk of 90 days-on-arrival for certain Europeans and the Anglosphere etc. We have seen China have their visa requirements be waived at least through high season, India as well, the other thing, Kazakhstan I think is also on that list as well.

So again these are pretty major changes and again they are being done to encourage as much tourism as possible which I think would be a good thing for Thailand. But it is an interesting development with regard to International Immigration and we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as this situation evolves.