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Chinese digital payment platform WeChat Pay has announced that users can now make payments in five countries – the Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore – by scanning local QR codes.
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This means that in these countries, users no longer need to search for WeChat QR codes; instead, they can use WeChat Pay to scan QR codes issued by local payment platforms, just as local users do.
The integration is a fully compliant and comprehensive interoperability between WeChat Pay and the local payment infrastructure, rather than a series of individual merchant deals, said a WeChat Pay official, adding that tourists visiting these countries no longer need to download local apps or manually exchange currency.
WeChat Pay's cross-border service covers 78 countries and regions and supports 36 currencies.
China has also eased inbound payments by allowing overseas bank cards to be linked to Alipay or WeChat Pay for spending at domestic merchants, and enabling overseas e-wallets to be used in China through partnerships with domestic payment institutions. In 2025, more than 10 million inbound tourists used such services, driving a year-on-year consumption increase of over 100 percent.
The People's Bank of China said in January it would accelerate the development of a cross-border payment system in yuan this year and promote diversified, multi-level cross-border payment connectivity.
XINHUA
