OVERSEAS tourists watching the 19th Asian Games held from Sept. 23 to Oct. 8 in Hangzhou, capital of eastern China’s Zhejiang Province, had been offered optimized online payment services for games. Latest data from Alipay, one of China’s major online payment service providers, show that the number of daily average transactions through its network since the start of the games for overseas clients surged 68.8% compared with the daily average number in August. In July, both Alipay and WeChat Pay, another Chinese online payment platform, announced that owners of overseas bank cards can now be linked to Alipay or WeChat accounts, allowing seamless transactions. Just days before the opening of the games, Ant Group, parent company of Alipay, officially welcomed seven new leading e-wallets and payment apps from Asia to the “Alipay+-in-China” (A+China) Program. Users of mPay (Macao), Hipay (Mongolia), Changi Pay (Singapore), OCBC (Singapore), as well as Naver Pay and Toss Pay from South Korea and TrueMoney (Thailand) will be able to use their familiar home e-wallets on their phones and enjoy seamless mobile payment experiences on the Chinese mainland across Alipay’s merchant network. The new additions bring the total number of overseas e-wallets accepted on the Chinese mainland to 10. AlipayHK, Touch ‘n Go eWallet (Malaysia) and Kakao Pay (South Korea) piloted the program in late 2022. In total, these payment methods reach a population of over 175 million in Southeast and East Asia, according to data from Ant Group. Users of these e-wallets may use their own payment apps wherever Alipay works to enjoy secure, smooth, and cashless payment and transparent and competitive exchange rates. To better meet the payment needs of overseas people in China and enable them to experience mobile payments and digital services more conveniently, the People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank, has guided relevant institutions to continue to provide payment convenience. The payment service for overseas people coming to China has been further upgraded. They can also register and open a digital yuan wallet with an overseas mobile phone number through the E-CNY app, recharge the wallet with Visa or Mastercard cards, and then make payment. The balance on the wallet can be redeposited to the bank cards. Zhang Qingsong, deputy governor of China’s central bank, said that the central bank, in recent years, actively guides payment institutions to optimize the foreign card binding process, accept overseas wallets in accordance with laws and regulations, and improve the convenience of payment for foreigners living and traveling in China, in efforts to promote cross-border cultural exchanges and economic and trade exchanges. (Xinhua) | 