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Traveling from FRA (Frankfurt, Germany) to TPE (Taipei, Taiwan) via PEK (Beijing Capital, China) on a German passport.

Does the transit in PEK count as immigration thus requiring a visa or do TWOV policies apply?

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You only need a visa or TWOV if you are not staying airside - which can happen in PEK Capital if you are transiting between T1/2 and T3. If you're staying airside, as a German citizen you don't need either.

And should you have to pass through Immigration to transit, you are eligible for a TWOV.

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From my understanding, Germany has an agreement with China for visa-free transit stays up to 72 hours, so you should be fine stopping over in PEK without a visa as long as your connection time isn't too long. I'd double check the exact transit rules between those countries though.

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    For Beijing the TWOV is 144 hours. And it's not an agreement Germany has with China, per se, it's a unilateral decision from China that dates back a few years before Covid.
    – user138870
    Commented Nov 15, 2023 at 7:16
  • I appreciate the clarification. 144 hours is much more generous than what I had thought.
    – Sarah Wilson
    Commented Nov 17, 2023 at 4:49
  • And it gets even better! It's 144 hours starting at midnight after your arrive. So if you arrive at say 8 in the morning, you get effectively 160 hours.
    – user138870
    Commented Nov 17, 2023 at 5:03
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    Ah nice, thanks for clarifying! 160 hours is quite generous. Do they stamp your passport when you arrive then to indicate when your transit period ends? That's good to know they give you some flexibility around the exact timing. Transit rules can definitely be tricky to navigate sometimes.
    – Sarah Wilson
    Commented Nov 21, 2023 at 4:27
  • You passport gets the regular arrival stamp, ie with the date only. Which is why they count the hours only from the start of the next day, making things easier for everybody.
    – user138870
    Commented Nov 21, 2023 at 4:31
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Regarding transits that are not within airside:

German citizens don’t need a visa if their transit in PEK lasts for less than 144 hours. Source: The same applies to French citizens, US citizens as well as several other nationalities.

From https://english.beijing.gov.cn/travellinginbeijing/144hourvisafreetransit/mobile/:

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