A former Chinese diplomat has urged young Austrians to take advantage of the visa-free policy to visit China and share their experiences with the world via social media.

Chen Ping, who served as the Cultural Counselor in Austria from 2019 to 2024, said in an interview with China Radio International (CRI) that the policy is already playing a significant role in relations between Austria and China.
"The visa-free policy is a very good policy for relations between Austria and China, and of course for relations between China and Europe. According to statistics, from the end of 2023 to 2024, there have already been approximately 20 million visitors who came to China under this policy. Last year, this number rose to 30 million. That was a huge number," said Chen.
According to Chen, the visa-free policy makes it easier for overseas visitors to travel to China to gain their own direct impressions of China.
"I think visa-free travel is, on the one hand, a sign of welcome from China to guests from all over the world. And on the other hand, it also shows that China is continuing to open up. This is particularly good for young people. They come to China, especially Generation Z, and then they will share their experiences on TikTok and YouTube. This will probably improve or correct these outdated cliches about China. I would say that if someone hasn't been to China yet, they should come, but if they have already been, they should come again because China is so big, because China is constantly changing," he said.