At present, China has concluded visa exemption agreements with more than 150 countries covering different passports, and more and more foreign friends come to China to travel, study, live and work. There are certain differences in payment habits due to the widespread use of mobile payment in China and the use of bank cards and cash by expatriates in China. So, what are the difficulties faced by foreigners in paying in China? Do they find it convenient?
According to the situation reported by some foreigners in China, some people are not familiar with mobile payment, some people have adapted to mobile payment, and some people have concerns about mobile payment, such as whether they can connect to the Internet and do not recognize their bank cards. In the course of the interview, some foreigners who have worked and lived in China for a period of time told reporters that they also have a new experience in China after becoming familiar with mobile payment. For example, Adu, who has lived in China for 18 years, shared with us his payment artifact - his smart watch. Xiya, who has lived in China for more than 10 years, told reporters that she feels that her life is inseparable from mobile payment.
Two major airports were opened.
Overseas guest payment service demonstration area.
In order to further meet the needs of foreign personnel in China for payment facilitation, not long ago, Beijing Capital International Airport and Daxing International Airport Overseas Guest Payment Service Demonstration Zone were officially opened.
The reporter noticed that the specific location of the overseas guest payment service center is directly opposite Exit B of the airport's international and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan (region) arrivals.
The reporter saw that the ATMs, self-service exchange machines and other equipment of the service center support multi-language services, and there are a variety of promotional leaflets placed on the service desk, and the electronic screen circulates the "Overseas Guest Payment Service Guide" to introduce the acquisition and use process of various payment services for overseas guests. The staff told reporters that the establishment of this service center is to provide payment service consultation and help and guidance for overseas personnel to China as soon as they arrive.
Meng Tongyu, Service Specialist of Overseas Guest Payment Service Center: We can now support "foreign card binding", and then (foreign) customers will feel that it may be more convenient to spend in China. Then there will be **WeChat or Alipay, bind their overseas cards, make purchases, and consult online payment (services) in this regard.
People's Bank of China:
A number of initiatives have been taken to optimize payment services.
Recently, the People's Bank of China held a meeting to promote the optimization of payment services, and the relevant person in charge said that a number of measures will be launched to provide more efficient and convenient payment services for foreign personnel and other groups. Specific measures include: promoting the acceptance of overseas bank cards by key venues and key merchants, and effectively improving the bank card acceptance environment; Adhere to the positioning of cash as the bottom line, continue to improve the cash use environment, and enhance the level of foreign currency exchange and cash services. At the same time, it is required that key venues must support diversified payment methods such as mobile payment, bank cards, and cash.
For optimizing the payment services for foreign personnel in China, the relevant persons in charge of commercial banks and payment institutions have also put forward more specific measures.
China UnionPay: Multiple measures to break through payment blockages.
China UnionPay said that it has launched a number of measures to concentrate resources and invest resources and jointly build an acceptance network with all parties in the industry to promote substantial optimization and improvement of payment services as soon as possible.
According to reports, China UnionPay will invest 3 billion yuan in joint commercial banks, acquirers and other parties to invest in a total of sources, and use the funds for catering, cultural tourism, hotels and other key scenes to deploy acceptance terminals, post acceptance signs, and large-scale transformation and optimization of offline card and non-payment acceptance environment.
Hu Haozhong, Executive Vice President of China UnionPay: We plan to cover 24 scenarios in 8 categories, including food, housing, transportation, travel, shopping, entertainment, medicine and learning, in 40 key cities across the country. Then, through bank card swiping, mobile phone payment (payment), and code scanning, the whole scene is covered, and the convenience of payment for people coming to China is further improved.
At the same time, China UnionPay will also strengthen cooperation with bank card associations, clearing institutions and other parties to accelerate the promotion of barcode payment interconnection and realize the barrier-free acceptance of various payment tools. Accelerate the two-way opening of the network between UnionPay and international bank card associations, and coordinate with other clearing institutions in terms of rules and standards.
Hu Haozhong, Executive Vice President of China UnionPay: We have jointly issued more than 200 overseas (electronic) wallets with overseas institutions (support). Overseas, UnionPay has issued 2300 million bank cards, which can be used as "external card binding" and "outsourcing for internal use", cooperate with payment institutions to further promote the interconnection of our (payment) barcode.
According to reports, in the future, China UnionPay will also focus on strengthening communication with local transportation and other departments, accelerate the solution of problems such as the subway and other travel scenarios that do not support the acceptance of non-payment of bank cards, optimize the design of travel card products, so that UnionPay, banks and other payment products can be used in various scenarios, and continuously improve the payment experience of various groups such as foreign personnel coming to China.
Expert: Convenient payment needs to be coordinated across the whole chain.
Experts said that to solve the payment problem of foreigners in China, it is necessary to have both institutional arrangements and technical suggestions, and the coordination and opening of the whole chain and all scenarios are required.
Dong Ximiao, Chief Researcher of Zhaolian: Convenient payment is a systematic project, in addition to moving the convenience gate forward, strengthening the expansion of various payment scenarios, such as tourist attractions, performances and exhibitions, transportation and other daily consumption fields, which requires the coordination and opening of the whole chain and all scenarios. Departments such as finance, commerce, culture and tourism, and transportation as well as all kinds of market entities should strengthen coordination, cooperate closely, and jointly advance to continuously improve the level of payment facilitation.
Experts said that with the deepening of China's opening up, optimizing the payment scenarios of foreigners in China and improving the payment experience are conducive to further driving China's consumption growth and providing strong support for China's economic development.