In the field of cross-border payments, eye-catching changes are taking place. Cross-border payment infrastructure is moving from “interconnection” to “interoperability”.
On May 27, at the opening main forum of the 20th Shenzhen International Finance Expo, Tencent Financial Technology Vice President Hong Danyi announced that Tencent’s cross-border payment platform TenPay Global and PayPal’s cross-border payment platform PayPal World have achieved interconnection.
This move is of great significance. When global PayPal users come to China, whether they actively scan the code or present the payment code, as long as they open their PayPal wallet, they can make smooth purchases at tens of millions of merchants in China that support WeChat payment.
The service will be available to PayPal users in the United States in the first phase, and other markets will also be included in phases.
Not only that, Hong Danyi also said that Shenzhen’s tax refund ports will soon support Hong Kong residents to receive outbound tax refunds in seconds through their WeChat Hong Kong dollar wallet accounts.
In the future, this service will be expanded from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to the whole country.
The person in charge of PayPal-related projects pointed out that “China has the world’s leading digital payment ecosystem. For international travelers, being able to achieve seamless payments is an indispensable part of their experience in China.”
Dong Ximiao, chief economist of China Merchants Union, believes that “WeChat Pay
Officially supporting PayPal users to scan QR codes to pay in China is a landmark event in China’s cross-border payment interconnection in recent years.
“Since the issuance of the “Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Further Optimizing Payment Services and Improving Payment Convenience”, with the joint efforts of all parties, the payment experience of people coming to China has continued to improve.
In recent years, payment institutions have continued to make efforts to improve the convenience of cross-border payments.
In July 2025, the cross-border QR code unified gateway will be put into operation, supporting domestic and foreign institutions to carry out cross-border QR code payment cooperation through “one-point docking”.
At that time, Tencent announced that it would further open the “outsourced internal use” service of WeChat Pay through the unified gateway, supporting more overseas wallets to pay through WeChat Pay QR codes in China.
Dong Ximiao said that the cross-border QR code unified gateway is a key infrastructure innovation in China’s payment and clearing field to break through barriers to cross-border payment interoperability.
In the past, cooperation between overseas wallets and domestic payment systems required one-by-one integration. The technology costs were high and standards were inconsistent, making it difficult to form a synergy.
The cross-border QR code unified gateway supports domestic and foreign institutions to carry out cross-border payment cooperation through “one-point docking”, providing unified technical interfaces and transaction information transfer and distribution services.
As a core participant, WeChat Pay promotes interoperability and cooperation with more than 40 overseas wallet institutions around the world through its cross-border payment platform.
The access of PayPal this time is a strong proof that the gateway system has moved from a technical pilot to a large-scale application. It also marks the cross-border payment infrastructure’s shift from “interconnection” to “interoperability”.
The reporter learned that since July last year, Tencent has actively participated in the construction of a unified cross-border QR code gateway, and further opened up WeChat payment “outsourced internal use” services through the gateway.
Today, this “outsourced internal use circle of friends” has supported the launch of 36 overseas cooperative wallets.
WeChat payment data shows that from January to April this year, the number of foreign tourists using WeChat to bind international bank cards in China increased by nearly 80% year-on-year.
Wang Pengbo, chief analyst of Broadcom Consulting, believes that this time WeChat Pay “joins hands” with PayPal, which is a key step to facilitate the payment of overseas personnel in China.
The cooperation between the two has opened up the consumption path for American PayPal users at tens of millions of merchants in China that support WeChat Pay.
In terms of transaction scale, WeChat Pay’s foreign card transaction volume will be significantly increased in the short term, especially in high-frequency scenarios such as tourism and retail. In the medium and long term, it is also expected to drive more international wallet access, forming a network effect of one-time connection and reuse in multiple countries.
In addition to domestic payment institutions, in recent years, foreign card organizations and international payment giants have also continued to make efforts to facilitate payments in China.
Wang Pengbo believes that this shows that the Chinese market is still very attractive to payment giants.
At the same time, this also reflects that China Mobile Payment is shifting from one-way output to two-way compatibility. Domestic institutions continue to optimize related technologies and services, and foreign card organizations are also actively adapting to China’s local acceptance environment. This two-way rush is not only driven by policy guidance, but also driven by real market demand.
Looking to the future, Wang Pengbo believes that with the gradual formation of a unified gateway standard for cross-border QR codes and the access of more overseas wallets, the second half of the year is expected to usher in an inflection point for the penetration rate of mobile payment for overseas users.
