"Going global" to promote mobile payment: a pragmatic move to further expand opening up

　　Jiang Zhaoyin

　　Jin Li, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, member of the Central Standing Committee of the Jiusan Society, and vice president of Southern University of Science and Technology, submitted the "Proposal on Strengthening Overseas Publicity of Domestic Mobile Payments to Promote Tourism in China" to this National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference meeting, suggesting that China's mobile payment methods be increased in publicity overseas, so that Foreigners coming to China know in advance that using mobile payment can make traveling in China more convenient, so as to reduce foreigners' concerns about traveling to China and enhance China's attractiveness to overseas tourists.

　　In recent years, mobile payment has developed rapidly in my country, playing an important role in improving transaction efficiency and reducing transaction costs.

The cost of mobile payment is low, and the coverage rate in China is much higher than that of bank cards, especially foreign cards. Foreigners often encounter problems such as insufficient coverage of foreign cards or difficulty in getting change for cash payments when paying in China.

To solve the payment needs of foreigners, we should rely more on mobile payments. However, the use of mobile payments by foreigners once had problems such as complex real-name authentication and low payment limits. In addition, foreigners have formed a strong inertia in using cash and credit cards for consumption, making The "gap" between the consumption habits of foreigners and China's mainstream payment model (mobile payment) is getting wider and wider.

　　With the support of the financial management department and the efforts of relevant enterprises, the technical links for foreigners to use China Mobile Payment have gradually been opened up.

In 2023, Alipay will cooperate with Bank of China, ICBC, ChinaNet, and overseas wallets to launch two sets of mobile payments: external card binding (Alipay App can bind overseas bank cards) and outsourcing internal use (supports overseas e-wallets scanning Alipay QR codes). The plan has been well received by foreigners coming to China, and the service scale continues to expand. The average daily number of transactions in the fourth quarter of 2023 will be approximately twice that of the third quarter.

Data shows that during this year’s Spring Festival, the amount spent by overseas tourists using Alipay in China increased by 500% year-on-year, and the amount spent by scanning Alipay QR codes with overseas wallets increased 32 times year-on-year.

　　On February 23, the State Council executive meeting reviewed and approved the "Opinions on Further Optimizing Payment Services and Improving Payment Convenience" (referred to as the "Opinions"), which requires full consideration of the special needs of the elderly, foreigners in China and other groups, and make appropriate arrangements. Service arrangements such as aging and internationalization further enhance the convenience of mobile payment.

The People's Bank of China has guided payment institutions to introduce a series of convenient measures, including increasing the single transaction limit for foreigners using mobile payments from US$1,000 to US$5,000, and increasing the annual cumulative transaction limit from US$10,000 to US$50,000; guiding payment The organization simplifies the identity authentication of foreign personnel, making it easier for foreigners to bind their cards and use mobile payments.

Such pragmatic measures will further improve the payment experience of foreigners in China.

　　In this context, what foreigners face when using mobile payment in China is no longer the problem of "not being able to use it", but the problem of "not knowing" and "not being able to use it".

Commissioner Jin Li proposed to strengthen the overseas promotion of domestic mobile payment in order to improve the convenience of mobile payment for foreigners and promote tourism in China, which can be said to have grasped the key to the problem.

Relevant functional departments, financial management departments and industry and enterprise organizations work together to "go global" and comprehensively and objectively publicize the work of China Mobile Payment in terms of technical level, infrastructure, business environment, consumption scale, especially in providing convenient services for foreigners. and achieved achievements, so that foreigners can know the relevant situation and prepare "strategies" before coming to China, so that they can use mobile payment easily and conveniently after coming to China (rather than being told "precautions" after coming to China). This is not only It is feasible and necessary.

　　Mobile payment has become a beautiful "China business card". "Going out" to promote China Mobile Payment reflects the sincerity of "inviting foreigners in" with comprehensive and high-quality services, and demonstrates the further expansion of opening up with more confident and inclusive measures. mind.

In this sense, "going out" to promote China Mobile Payment is also a vivid practice of "going out" to promote China's expansion of opening up. It not only helps to promote foreigners to travel to China, but also helps to promote the world's in-depth understanding of China. We No matter how hard you try, it's worth it.