Chinese diplomacy spokesman Lin Jian explained that citizens of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and Luxembourg will be able to stay in the Asian country for tourism, business, or transit for 15 days.

The policy will remain in effect until December 2025, the spokesperson said.

Last November, China announced that nationals of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia would benefit from a unilateral visa exemption until December 2024.

In March, the Chinese Government extended the visa-free policy for stays of up to 15 days to six more European countries — Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and Luxembourg — but Portugal remained off the list.

The Portuguese ambassador in Beijing, Paulo Nascimento, at the time, told Lusa agency that he “does not understand” the criteria for leaving Portugal out.

The diplomat recalled that China has the right to decide its visa policy autonomously, but then admitted that he would request a specific consultation on this decision from the country's authorities.

Experts argue that the slowness of visa application procedures and the price of plane tickets are the main reasons why foreign tourism has not yet reached pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels, during which China imposed an almost total shutdown of the borders.

In recent months, the Asian country has adopted a series of measures to help international travellers.

Electronic payment services WeChat Pay and Alipay announced several measures last year to make their payment systems available to foreign users visiting China, who sometimes have difficulty paying in the country and using certain services.