China has asked Portugal to facilitate the entry of its citizens, as there has been a visa exemption since October 2024 for Portuguese citizens traveling to China, Chinese ambassador Zhao Bentang said this Friday.

“China has already asked Europe and Portugal to facilitate entry for Chinese citizens. If the Portuguese can go to China very easily to do business, their partners in China want to come and cannot or it is very difficult ,” he said.

In an interview with the Lusa news agency, the diplomat said that the “Chinese government hopes that the Portuguese government and European governments will also facilitate [entries] for Chinese tourists, traders and business people in terms of visas”.

“We always speak to the Portuguese government. I have spoken to them many times. I believe that during the visit of the [Portuguese Foreign Minister, Paulo Rangel] the Chinese side also spoke about this issue,” added the ambassador, referring to the Portuguese foreign minister’s visit to China, which ends this Friday with a visit to Macau and Hong Kong.

Zhao Bentang recalled that since October 2024, Portuguese citizens have been able to travel to China without needing visas, under certain conditions, following a “unilateral policy” which is scheduled to end in December.

“But [the continuation of the exemption] depends on the assessment, on demand. I believe that when the time comes, if necessary, the Chinese side may consider some extension, some renewal. But the time has not yet come to evaluate ,” he said.

At the end of September 2024, China announced the extension of its visa exemption policy to Portuguese citizens, for stays of up to 15 days, thus including Portugal in a list that included 16 other European countries.

The extension, which was confirmed in a statement by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, comes after Beijing included Norway, Slovenia, Greece, Denmark and Cyprus in the list of countries whose citizens will be able to stay in the Asian country for tourism, business or transit for 15 days, exempt from visas.

The measure came into effect on October 15, 2024 and will remain in effect until December 31, 2025.