Visa-free travel to spur Sino-Russian trade ties

China and Russia are seeing renewed vitality in cross-border travel and economic cooperation after a visa-free travel arrangement and an upgraded bilateral investment treaty came into force on Monday, measures that experts say will support diversified trade and strengthen market confidence.

The rollout follows a period of external pressure.

China's trade with Russia decreased by 8.7 percent year-on-year in the first 10 months of 2025, according to the General Administration of Customs. The new policies are expected to ease business interaction and improve the institutional environment for investment, helping stabilize expectations.

At Heihe port in Heilongjiang province, one of the busiest China-Russia border crossings, outbound passenger flows registered a clear increase this week. Officers guided travelers in Chinese and Russian, with faster checks and smoother movement.

"I'm engaged in border trade and used to spend a lot of time securing visas before every trip," said a merchant surnamed Li, who was waiting for departure. "The visa-free policy saves both time and cost. I was originally planning to visit Russia mid-month, but now I can go earlier to study the market."

Russia's free-visa policy, effective until Sept 14 next year, allows Chinese citizens to enter Russia visa-free for tourism or business for up to 30 days. China has implemented a one-year visa-free policy for Russian citizens since mid-September, which allows Russian citizens to enter China for up to 30 days for business, tourism, family visits, cultural exchanges or transit.

Travel agencies also expect the policy to lift both leisure and business travel.

Li Mengran, marketing manager at Utour, a Beijing-based travel agency, said it removes a practical hurdle for companies with staff departing from multiple cities. "Previously, a firm with people in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu needed separate visa procedures because of different consular districts. Now they can depart directly from their own locations, which makes last-minute business trips possible," she said.

The revised China-Russia bilateral investment agreement, signed in May and effective on Monday, introduces clearer rules on investment protections, facilitation and dispute settlement, compared with the one signed in 2006. China's Ministry of Commerce said the updated treaty enhances legal certainty and transparency, creating a more stable and predictable business environment for investors from both sides.

Zhou Mi, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said the visa-free arrangement and the bilateral investment treaty are complementary. Greater mobility, combined with a more transparent institutional framework, will "significantly reduce trade costs "and open up more cooperation opportunities, he said.

Zhou expects personnel exchanges to quickly increase business negotiations and project matching in the next three to six months. Over the longer term, he said the two sides will likely expand beyond traditional advantages in resources and industry toward more innovative fields, gradually contributing to a more diversified trade structure.

The treaty is also designed to reduce uncertainty for enterprises, Zhou said. By refining rules on investment protection, facilitation and dispute settlement, it helps companies, particularly small and medium-sized ones, address key concerns and lower investment risks. With reduced travel and research costs, he said, more on-the-ground investment may emerge in industrial parks, border ports and priority sectors in Russia.

Ma Bin, associate professor at the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University, said the tourism sector will see the most direct benefits, with border trade and business-services industries also gaining "clear improvements in convenience". These changes, he said, serve as structural supplements to the existing cooperation framework.

China and Russia have seen rising travel exchanges since restoring group visa-free arrangements in 2023. Chinese mainland residents made 1.04 million first-stop trips to Russia in 2024, up 209.3 percent year-on-year, while 1.5 million Russian travelers visited China, an increase of 115.1 percent, according to industry data.

Analysts at the Tongcheng Research Institute said improvements in visa facilitation, tourism infrastructure and service networks will likely drive more frequent cultural and tourism exchanges between the two countries.