China announced on Friday that it will allow visa-free entry for citizens of five European countries and Malaysia as it tries to encourage more people to visit for business and tourism.

Starting December 1, citizens of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia will be allowed to enter China for up to 15 days without a visa.

The trial program will be in effect for one year.

The aim is “to facilitate the high-quality development of Chinese and foreign personnel exchanges and high-level opening up to the outside world,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a daily briefing.

"This decision will facilitate travel to China for many German citizens to an unprecedented extent," Germany's ambassador to China, Patricia Flor, said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

"We hope that the Chinese government will implement the measures announced today for all EU member states," she said.

In the first six months of the year, China recorded 8.4 million entries and exits by foreigners, according to immigration statistics.

That compares to 977 million for all of 2019, the last year before the pandemic. (AP/Reuters)