China issued a total of 20.897 million ordinary passports in 2025, the National Immigration Administration (NIA) said a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday.
The NIA said that in the same year, the country processed 98.538 million endorsements for mainland residents traveling to and from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the Macao Special Administrative Region (Macao SAR) and the Taiwan region, as well as 2.254 million mainland travel permits for residents of the HKSAR, the Macao SAR and the Taiwan region. In addition, 2.02 million visa documents were issued to foreign nationals in 2025.
China's immigration authorities also continued to improve public services in 2025, the NIA said.
The NIA's online government service platform provided inquiry and other administrative services to Chinese and international travelers on 185 million occasions and offered free identity authentication services to 76.329 million users, including residents of the HKSAR, the Macao SAR and the Taiwan region, the overseas Chinese, and foreign permanent residents in China.
Meanwhile, the 12367 service platform operated by China's immigration authorities handled 7.11 million requests and inquiries from Chinese and foreign nationals in 2025, with an average satisfaction rate standing at 99.5 percent, the NIA added.
China issues 20.89 million ordinary passports in 2025
China issues 20.89 million ordinary passports in 2025
China's centrally administered state-owned enterprises spent more than 1.1 trillion yuan (over 158 billion U.S. dollars) on research and development in 2025, exceeding one trillion yuan for a fourth consecutive year, underscoring the trend to strengthen innovation among key state firms, a senior official said on Tuesday.
At a press conference in Beijing, officials from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) briefed the media on the performance of central state-owned enterprises.
These enterprises also made steady progress in improving quality and efficiency last year, with total profits reaching 2.5 trillion yuan (about 360 billion U.S. dollars), according to official data.
"They also contributed 22 new members to the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, a historic high. Twenty-three innovation consortiums involved more than 100 new innovation entities in key research projects. A series of breakthroughs were made in frontier fields, further highlighting the role of national strategic scientific and technological forces," said Pang Xiaogang, vice chairman of the commission.
Central state-owned enterprises employ about 1.44 million researchers, accounting for around one-fifth of China's total, and they have a total of 238 academicians, or about 13 percent of the national total, according to official data.
These enterprises have established 474 national-level research and development platforms, regrouped 91 national key laboratories, and led the construction of 10 national technology innovation centers.
The commission said state-owned enterprises are also stepping up collaboration with universities and research institutions, with eight restructured research bodies piloting industry-wide common technology research centers.
Efforts have been made to accelerate the commercialization of research outcomes, with the localization rate of the first batch of projects rising to 79 percent from 51 percent, while 134 pilot testing platforms have opened 291 specialized services.
Central state-owned enterprises have led or taken part in all the 22 major national science and technology programs, and have achieved 121 technological breakthroughs in which the country now holds a leading position.
Central SOEs' R&D spending tops 1 trln yuan again
