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Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –
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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News
Beijing, November 11 (Xinhua) — Monday, November 10, marked two years since the launch of the mutual visa-free regime between China and Kazakhstan. During this time, the number of entries and exits of citizens of the two countries through the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR, northwest China) has exceeded 4.64 million, according to China Central Television (CCTV), citing data from the XUAR border service.
Xinjiang is located on the northwestern outskirts of China and has seven border crossings with Kazakhstan, of which Khorgos stands out in terms of passenger turnover.
On November 10, 2023, an intergovernmental agreement on mutual visa exemption between the two countries officially entered into force. Data shows that over the course of two years, passenger traffic between the two countries through the Tianshan International Airport checkpoint in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, reached 179,000, accounting for 10.3 percent of the total number of incoming and outgoing passengers over the same period. The number of Kazakh citizens entering China visa-free exceeded 118,000.
At the airport, Yang Huijia, a resident of the South, shared her impressions of the trip. "I flew in from Guangzhou. After a layover here, I'm heading on to Kazakhstan. I feel very comfortable with the visa-free policy; this is my second time flying to Kazakhstan this year, especially since connecting in Urumqi gives me more options for flights to Kazakhstan," she said.
Currently, three international passenger air routes to Kazakhstan operate regularly at Tianshan Airport: Urumqi-Almaty-Urumqi, Urumqi-Astana-Urumqi, and Urumqi-Shymkent-Urumqi.
Due to the stimulating effect of the visa-free regime, two new Kazakh airlines, SCAT Airlines and Fly Arystan, have been accredited at Tianshan Airport since the beginning of this year. At the same time, the roundtrip flight network between Urumqi and Kazakh cities has been expanded, said Wang Wei, a responsible official at the Urumqi border service. He added that the number of roundtrip flights currently remains at around 50 per week, a 43 percent increase from the previous year.
According to official statistics, since the beginning of 2025, passenger traffic between China and Kazakhstan through the XUAR checkpoint has amounted to more than 2.28 million person-times, with an increase of 25.3 percent year-on-year. -0-
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