Nanning issues policies to support China-ASEAN AI industry center

Nanning City, in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on Friday launched a series of policies to support the development of a China-ASEAN Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Cooperation Center.

The first batch of policies consists of 22 articles, applicable to AI companies that settle in the center from March 1, 2025, and will be valid until Dec 31, 2027.

The new policies will provide enterprises and teams that settle in the center with free office space for no less than two years, with a maximum of 15 square meters per person and a maximum cumulative space of 500 square meters, as well as a startup capital subsidy of up to 5 million yuan (over 680,000 U.S. dollars). Up to 50 million yuan (about 5.84 million U.S. dollars) will be issued each year to support model research and development, and up to 5 million yuan of support will be provided for projects seeking breakthroughs in key core technologies.

The new policy focuses on supporting the construction of intelligent computing centers with a scale of more than 100PFlops.

Newly recruited high-end sci-tech talents in the technology-based AI enterprises above the designated size will be given salary rewards at a rate of up to 10 percent of their after-tax salary.

"We will increase financial and taxation support, and push forward tax reductions and exemptions for the center. For enterprises that meet the current relevant tax preferential policies such as the China-ASEAN Industrial Cooperation Zone, we will provide support for the local share part of corporate income tax under the policy of 'five-year exemptions and five-year reductions'. We will also establish an artificial intelligence industry fund with a total scale of 5 billion yuan (about 683.6 million U.S. dollars), focusing on supporting early-stage and growing AI companies and projects," Zhong Hong, executive vice mayor of Nanning City, said at a press conference on Friday.

The "five-year exemptions and five-year reductions" policy means that enterprises or projects under government support are exempt from corporate income tax from the first to the fifth year of its operation, and the tax is levied at half the statutory tax rate from the sixth to the tenth year.

Nanning issues policies to support China-ASEAN AI industry center

Heihe, a small Chinese city across a river from Russia, tells a big story of closer people-to-people exchanges as China and Russia launched mutual visa-free entry in 2025, leading to cross-border bustle.

In this border city, Russian tourists are enjoying local snacks at outdoor morning markets, while Chinese customers are filling up their carts with chocolate, vodka, and signature Russian violet candies at a Russian goods supermarket. The scene has become a fixture of daily life.

Most of the stalls in the city have bilingual signs in Chinese and Russian, and the owners can communicate using basic Russian words and phrases.

"(Russian travelers prefer to buy) fruits. Because Chinese fruits are much cheaper than those in Russia. They also buy steamed buns, and egg burgers," said a stall owner.

"There are noticeably more Russians now. They come with the whole family. They really like buying Chinese products, especially food. They love to eat, and they love to have fun," said another vendor.

Heihe and Blagoveshchensk, the capital of Amur Oblast in Russia's Far East, face each other across the Heilongjiang River, also known in Russia as the Amur River, with the closest distance between the two cities being approximately 700 meters. By boat on the river, it takes only five minutes to reach the opposite bank.

Starting September 15, 2025, China has allowed Russian citizens to enter the country without a visa for up to 30 days under a one-year trial policy, boosting Russian tourists' willingness to travel to China.

China has decided to extend visa-free entry for Russian citizens until Dec 31, 2027, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday.

Border authorities in Heihe say passenger traffic through the port has reached 360,000 trips so far this year, marking an 80 percent increase compared with the same period last year.

Chinese-Russian border city witnesses closer people-to-people exchanges