Recently, the President of the National Parliament of Timor-Leste, Maria Fernanda Lay, will lead a delegation to Beijing. The visit is at the invitation of Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China.

China has launched an “ASEAN visa” for entrepreneurs from the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Timor-Leste, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in June. According to ministry spokesman Lin Jian, China will issue this category of visa to businesspeople from the 11 countries who meet the requirements, as well as to their spouses and children. The visa will allow multiple entries into the country for a period of five years, with a maximum stay of 180 days at a time.

According to the Timorese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “in a historic statement during the 46th ASEAN summit, held in Kuala Lumpur in May, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim officially announced that Timor-Leste will achieve full membership of ASEAN at the next ASEAN summit, scheduled for October 2025.”

(Source: China-Lusophone Brief, on September 2)