Policy support, smart infrastructure: Xinjiang accelerates westward opening-up with combined measures

Five minutes - that is the maximum time a foreign traveler needs to spend at the tax refund counter in the new terminal 4 of Urumqi Tianshan International Airport in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. More than 70 countries and regions - that is the source of more than 10,000 categories of goods offered at Urumqi bonded zone. Over 9,500 trains - that is the China-Europe Railway Express departed from Urumqi international land port as of June 2025.

These numbers indicate how Xinjiang region, with unique geographical advantages, is accelerating its pace of making itself the gateway of China's westward opening up.

Riding 'China Travel' tide

The National Immigration Administration (NIA) said on Wednesday that foreign nationals made 38.05 million cross-border trips to and from China in the first half (H1) of 2025, up 30.2 percent year on year. Among them, 13.64 million foreigners entered China without a visa, accounting for 71.3 percent of total foreign entries and representing a 53.9-percent increase year-on-year.

Riding the booming "China Travel" trend, China optimized in April its tax refund policy by granting more stores the qualification for refund, raising the cap of cash refund to 20,000 yuan ($2,788) and lowering the threshold of product price to 200 yuan.

As refund in other form has no cap, staff member Liu Jiawei, the refund counter in Tianshan International Airport, recalled an impressive customer who received 60,000 yuan of refund for a luxury watch.

Yet majority of the customers are from the five Central Asian countries, dealing car and motorcycle parts as well as clothes. "They are sensitive to the efficiency and amount of tax refund, and can really benefit from the revised policy and our 24/7 service," Liu told the Global Times.

To provide service around the clock, Liu and his two colleagues from Tianshan Rural Commercial Bank, with more than 10 year working experience and proficient in English, work in three shifts and sometimes rest in the small break room behind the counter. "It is hard but meaningful work."

The Tianshan International Airport has signed cooperation with 14 out of 18 qualified shopping malls in Urumqi. Since 2025, it has handled 168 transactions totaling 350,000 yuan, the Global Times learned at the tax refund counter.

Passengers made 660,000 inbound and outbound trips from Tianshan International Airport in 2024. By providing comprehensive services including tax refund, diverse languages, smart and seamless border checks, and cooperation with businesses, the airport seeks to become a model port of opening-up in western region of the country.

Airport staff member Paerhade Amuti told the Global Times "in terms of volume, we cannot compare to Shanghai which sees 30 million international trips annually, but as long as we do our best for the 660,000 passengers, the number will gradually increase."

People on different posts at the airport share the belief that Xinjiang is and will continue to be not only a gateway for westward opening-up, but has the potential to become a regional consumption hub.

Consuming quality and convenience

When some foreign travelers buy in Xinjiang and leave, some others as well as an increasing number of domestic customers are shopping global goods in Urumqi bonded zone, on site and virtually, for quality and convenience.

More than 10,000 kinds of goods from more than 70 countries and regions - oil and flour, snacks and drinks, liquors and jewelry, cosmetics and handicrafts - are on display at a major hall of 116,000 square meters in the bonded zone, for retail and wholesale, the Global Times learned at an exhibition and trading center of the bonded zone.

Seventeen "country booths" sell wine from France, dairy products from Australia and ointment from Thailand… and a designated section features goods from countries along the Belt and Road, including plain flour from Kazakhstan and tea from Sri Lanka.

The center is a display window for goods going through the bonded zone, which is established mainly for border check convenience and relieve foreign trade companies' tax pressure, but also attracts more and more individual customers.

With storage behind, this bonded zone is the largest and most comprehensive bonded trade center in Xinjiang, manager Liu Li told the Global Times, adding that many customers came for credibility, as products here are carefully selected, and many of those displayed in "country booths" are direct sourcing from the origin.
A shopper from Changji in Xinjiang told the Global Times that they came for the quality and variety of products, particularly supplements and snacks. "[We came here] because of our kid. The snacks are diverse and of good quality."

The Global Times learned that a livestreaming studio is located on second floor of the main hall for e-commerce livestreamers to brand and sell the diverse products to domestic and global markets. "They work from afternoon to midnight, as people usually watch livestreaming late in the day, plus the jet lag in Central Asia, our major overseas market," Liu Li said.

In addition to direct sales of goods, the bonded zone is also cultivating agricultural manufacturers who can benefit from the infrastructure and policy convenience, Xinjiang Daily reported.

Xinjiang now has four comprehensive bonded zones and their total import and export totaled 81.57 billion yuan in first five months of 2025, accounting for 35.8 percent of total foreign trade in Xinjiang, Xinjiang Daily reported.

By highway, railway and flight, diverse commercial goods arrive and depart this bonded zone, painting a picture of hustle and bustle and telling a story of how continuous opening up is benefiting manufacturers, dealers and customers.

Smart and integrated transport

Behind the variety of goods stands Xinjiang's transportation archeries and key knots, represented by 67 square kilometers of Urumqi international land port, which is a pivotal hub undertaking the important mission of being the "gold corridor" between Asia and Europe and the "bridgehead for westward opening up."

The land port area is 20 minutes of drive from Tianshan international airport, with multiple key highways and railways running through this area, meaning its one-stop port services can reach different modes of transportation.

Standing at the command center of the port, one can understand how smart and integrated infrastructure are facilitating trade and boosting connectivity.

A screen shows the up-to-date amount of transportation and comparison by month, primary analysis of containers and customers and other data. Real time footages at multiple spots in the port area are integrated in the system so that one can monitor and allocate storage, containers and dispatch personnel if necessary.

Observing that not many people are in the main building for services, the Global Times learned from a staff member that most of the services, from booking containers and checking schedules to customs declarations, can be done online through a WeChat mini program.

Through one-stop service, coordination with railway and customs, the quick border checks and seamless transfer in combined transportation can cut unloading and reloading by 48 hours and shorten the border passing by 6-12 hours, increasing efficiency which means lower costs and higher value of goods.

Vehicle parts and steel, chemicals, nuts and tomato products from Xinjiang, as well as microwave ovens and electric fans, clothes and building materials from outside Xinjiang, all board China-Europe Railway Express trains here and running toward tens of thousands of overseas customers. The trains carry ores and minerals, timbers, grains and cooking oil back.

First operated in 2023, the Urumqi international land port has seen off 9,500 trains to 26 cities in 19 countries as of June 30. A staff member told the Global Times that majority of the goods exported through Xinjiang are from other provinces and regions.

With the guidance of Belt and Road Initiative and the development of China's western region, Xinjiang region has changed from a relatively closed inland region to a frontier of opening up. From favorable policies to upgrade of hard and soft infrastructure, Xinjiang is accelerating its pace to transform into a bridgehead of China's unremitting opening-up.