Xiamen Port in east China had handled more than 5 million inbound and outbound passenger trips so far this year as of Tuesday morning, a 10 percent year-on-year increase, with number of foreign visitors hitting a record high.
Data from the Xiamen General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection showed that, foreign passenger traffic at Xiamen port reached nearly 900,000 since the beginning of this year, up almost 15 percent year on year and setting a new high for the same period.
Visa-free and transit visa-free arrivals accounted for roughly 60 percent of all inbound foreign passengers, serving as the primary engine of growth.
Chen Jinlai, deputy station chief of the Border Inspection Division at the Gaoqi Border Inspection Station, elaborated on the measures introduced to streamline entry for foreign visitors.
"To facilitate foreign travelers coming to China, we have implemented one-stop application for the 240-hour temporary entry permit, supported by a dual guarantee of advocating advance online declaration by airlines and requiring immediate processing upon arrival for passengers to further compress approval time. We have also encouraged passengers to fill their entry cards in advance and online, with staff members providing onsite filling guidance. As of now, the online filling rate at the port had reached 99 percent. Furthermore, we have rolled out polices to allow passengers from 18 domestic destinations to transit through Xiamen to international flights with one ticket only. The port has been continuously optimizing the customs clearance experience for foreign passengers," said Chen.
Statistics show that about 18,000 foreign passengers have entered visa-free through Xiamen Port and stayed in Fujian for more than 15 days this year, a year-on-year increase of more than 70 percent.
Driven by the 240-hour transit visa-free policy, more than 60 percent of foreign arrivals through Xiamen stayed longer than five days, further promoting inbound tourism, international consumption, and business exchanges.
Xiamen handles over 5 mln inbound, outbound passenger trips since 2026
Space cooperation between Azerbaijan and China is poised for further expansion into areas such as commercial satellites and deep space research, said Dunay Badirkhanov, acting chair of the board of Azerbaijan's national space agency, Azercosmos.
The 77th International Astronautical Congress kicked off Monday in Antalya, Türkiye's Mediterranean resort city, gathering space leaders, researchers and industry representatives from across the globe.
Speaking on the sidelines of the five-day meeting, which runs under the theme "The World Needs More Space," Badirkhanov emphasized that heavy investments required for space and digital exploration make collaboration vital, particularly for emerging space nations like Azerbaijan.
"Today it's hard for a single country to have big achievements. Space exploration, digital exploration needs a lot of investment and this is the place where really the new possibilities open for developing for emerging space countries as Azerbaijan. We hope that this cooperation in future will even further grow, and we'll have more scientific projects there, and we already have some scientists and scientific projects ongoing, and we hope that this will even grow in the future," said Badirkhanov.
Azerbaijan joined China's International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) program in Oct. 2023 as space agencies of China and Azerbaijan signed a joint statement on cooperation on the program during the 74th International Astronautical Congress held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
According to the joint statement, the two sides would carry out extensive cooperation in the demonstration, implementation, operation and application of the program, including mounting scientific instruments, providing training to personnel and conducting scientific and technological experiments.
The ILRS program, jointly initiated by China and Russia in 2021, aims to build a lunar base and carry out lunar research and exploration.
Badirkhanov noted that Azercosmos is closely monitoring preparations for the ILRS program.
"We actively participate in the workshops and seminars regarding this laboratory. We closely monitor the ongoing preparations, and we closely collaborate with our partners to see how we can contribute as Azerbaijan is a scientific part of this project," he said.
Noting that China and Azerbaijan have good relations in space research, Badirkhanov expected cooperation with China in the field to grow further.
"Of course, space is huge and new opportunities open every day, every year. And we are happy that we are part of the international community and large space agencies, and China and others are open for emerging space countries to also be involved in their activities," said Badirkhanov.
Azerbaijan Space Agency eyes deeper cooperation with China: acting chief
