(Source: CGTN)

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and internet conglomerate Tencent have announced a jointly-developed feature for the popular social networking platform, WeChat. The feature will essentially allow Chinese nationals traveling abroad to have access to overseas consular services on demand. It is designed with the same goals in mind as the country's existing 12308 phone hotline service.

Earlier this month Foreign Minister Wang Yi said " In the future, apart from dialling the consular hotline, Chinese citizens who run into difficulty in another country can seek real-time advice and receive immediate help from the WeChat platform". Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xianyou believes more and more Chinese will travel abroad, meaning this kind of service is now essential.

"Since the implementation of online services in 2013 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, almost 200-thousand people have followed the Consular Protection and Services WeChat account, and more than 220-thousand calls have been placed to the emergency hotline '12308'. There will be more and more Chinese going overseas and the process of understanding our people better when they are abroad is an ongoing task," Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said.