China will begin taking fingerprints of all foreign visitors entering the country in a bid to improve border checks, the Ministry of Public Security said Thursday.

The new system will be test-launched from Friday at Shenzhen airport in the southeastern province of Guangdong and a few other locations, before being gradually rolled out across the country, the ministry said.

All foreign nationals ages 14 to 70 will be required to provide their fingerprints to border control authorities upon entry into China. Until now, only long-term foreign residents in China needed to do so.

The ministry said the collecting of fingerprints is a common practice around the world.

Japan and the United States are among countries with similar requirements.