China to Resume Visa-free Policies to Spur Inbound Travel

People visit a lantern display in Victoria Park in Hong Kong on September 29, 2023 to celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival. (Photo by Peter PARKS / AFP)
People visit a lantern display in Victoria Park in Hong Kong on September 29, 2023 to celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival. (Photo by Peter PARKS / AFP)
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China to Resume Visa-free Policies to Spur Inbound Travel

People visit a lantern display in Victoria Park in Hong Kong on September 29, 2023 to celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival. (Photo by Peter PARKS / AFP)
People visit a lantern display in Victoria Park in Hong Kong on September 29, 2023 to celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival. (Photo by Peter PARKS / AFP)

China will resume visa-free policies and consider adding more countries to its visa-exemption list to help boost the country's post-pandemic tourism business, according to a policy document released on Friday.

More international flights will be resumed or added, China's State Council said.

In a statement posted on the central government's website, it said visa-free policies and visa assurances on arrival would be promoted as well as smoother immigration clearances for cruises and self-driving tourists.

The government also called for enhanced tax-rebate services such the creation of more tax-rebate shops.



Traffic on French High-Speed Trains Gradually Improving after Sabotage

Workers operate to reconnect the signal box to the track in its technical ducts in Vald' Yerres, near Chartres on July 26, 2024, as France's high-speed rail network was hit by an attack disrupting the transport system, hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. (AFP)
Workers operate to reconnect the signal box to the track in its technical ducts in Vald' Yerres, near Chartres on July 26, 2024, as France's high-speed rail network was hit by an attack disrupting the transport system, hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. (AFP)
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Traffic on French High-Speed Trains Gradually Improving after Sabotage

Workers operate to reconnect the signal box to the track in its technical ducts in Vald' Yerres, near Chartres on July 26, 2024, as France's high-speed rail network was hit by an attack disrupting the transport system, hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. (AFP)
Workers operate to reconnect the signal box to the track in its technical ducts in Vald' Yerres, near Chartres on July 26, 2024, as France's high-speed rail network was hit by an attack disrupting the transport system, hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. (AFP)

Traffic on France's TGV high-speed trains was gradually returning to normal on Saturday after engineers worked overnight repairing sabotaged signal stations and cables that caused travel chaos on Friday, the opening day of the Paris Olympic Games.

In Friday's pre-dawn attacks on the high-speed rail network vandals damaged infrastructure along the lines connecting Paris with cities such as Lille in the north, Bordeaux in the west and Strasbourg in the east. Another attack on the Paris-Marseille line was foiled, French rail operator SNCF said.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility.

"On the Eastern high-speed line, traffic resumed normally this morning at 6:30 a.m. while on the North, Brittany and South-West high-speed lines, 7 out of 10 trains on average will run with delays of 1 to 2 hours," SNCF said in a statement on Saturday morning.

"At this stage, traffic will remain disrupted on Sunday on the North axis and should improve on the Atlantic axis for weekend returns," it added.

SNCF reiterated that transport plans for teams competing in the Olympics would be guaranteed.