The two-day event, which opened Monday, brought together more than 3,200 participants from over 70 countries and regions to explore new paths for modernizing urban governance, a challenge shared across the world.

　　Georgios K. Giannaros, first deputy mayor of Athens, Greece, addresses the opening ceremony of the 2026 Beijing Forum on Swift Response to Public Complaints in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 12, 2026. (Xinhua/Xie Han)

　　OPEN HOTLINE

　　Marie, an expat living in Beijing, once hit a snag when signing up for a water show on the Grand Canal in Tongzhou District: the online registration form on WeChat only accepted Chinese mainland resident ID cards, leaving no way to enter foreign passport details.

　　After Marie raised the issue through the 12345 hotline, the case was assigned to Tongzhou authorities, who activated a fast-track mechanism for requests involving foreign nationals. Working with the platform operator and its technical team, they upgraded the registration system within just one working day, adding a field for passports and other foreign ID documents.

　　The 12345 hotline"s foreign-related services are not only efficient, but also expanding in both scope and capacity.

　　"Foreign callers have all kinds of requests, with visa and entry-exit policies and work permit applications among the most common inquiries," said Wang Dongbo, an English-language operator on the hotline, adding that whether they live in Beijing or are just visiting briefly, foreigners who run into trouble can call 12345, and someone will see the matter through.