With visa-free access, three Swiss nationals arrived in Yunnan province via Mohan Port on March 14, marking the first batch of passengers from six European countries—Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and Luxembourg—to benefit from China's visa exemption.
"The customs entry is very fast and convenient, and I think I will come to China again," said Kamber Gian Thomas, 25, a Swiss passenger.
The visa-free policy, effective from March 14 to Nov 30 this year, allows citizens with ordinary passports from the six European countries to stay in China for business, sightseeing, visiting families and friends, as well as transit for no more than 15 days.
The policy's application marks another expansion of China's visa-free countries scope after the China-Thailand mutual visa-free agreement came into effect on March 1.
Mohan town, once a far-flung town in Southwest China’s Yunnan province bordering Laos, is taking on a new profile as a booming international land port.
Since the China-Laos Railway was put into operation in December 2021, it has seen rapid development buoyed by increasingly smooth logistics.
The 1,035-kilometer line that runs between Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan, and Vientiane, the capital of Laos, leaves China via Mohan port.
Located at the two ends of the China-Laos Railway in China, Mohan and Kunming are closely connected by the international railway.
In May 2022, Mohan was put under trusteeship of the provincial capital in the hope of shaping the border town into an international port and a highland of investment and international cooperation.
