Starting next year, reforms for entering and leaving China will
help citizens travel abroad and allow foreigners to invest and
travel more easily in China, public security officials said on
Wednesday.
For most Chinese, heading on trips abroad still sounds like an
ordeal requiring them to go through complicated procedural red
tape.
However, the icy situation was broken two years ago when
Beijing, Shanghai and some other big cities decided to issue
passports if citizens apply for them.
Similar measures will be expanded to other regions, officials
said at a meeting of the Entry-Exit Administration of the Ministry
of Public Security that will be concluded Thursday.
Next year will be a crucial year during which 80 percent of the
country's large and medium-sized cities, mainly in the central
area, will adopt the measures, officials said.
During the past 11 months, a total of 201 million people left or
entered the country, according to administration statistics.
With the aim of luring overseas capital, technology and
personnel for additional economic and social development, the
ministry and other relevant departments will adopt a long-expected
"Green Card" system this year to grant permanent residence permits
to foreigners working in China, officials said.
A senior ministry official, who asked to be unnamed, disclosed
last week that regulations on granting permanent residence permits
to foreigners have been mapped out and sent to the State Council
for approval.
In February, 45 foreigners in Beijing, including senior
advisers, researchers and managers as well as professionals from
foreign-funded companies, got the country's first batch of
long-term residence permits and multi-entry visas, which allow them
three or five years' stay in China without the need for annual
renewal, Xinhua reported.
"The permits and visas only serve as a transition toward
permanent residence permits," said Zhang Yindi, deputy director of
the Entry-Exit Administration, noting this was a great step forward
compared with past policies.
Such a system will help standardize public security bureaus'
administration of foreigners and improve management, public
officials said.
In the coming year, Entry-Exit Administration officials will
improve the issuance and management of credentials for inlanders to
conduct short-term travel to Hong Kong and Macao.
(China Daily December 25, 2003)