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Alipay, the online payment platform introduced by China’s Alibaba Group and its founder, Jack Ma, agreed to accept Visa and Mastercard payments. The country’s WeChat Pay also welcomes the said American credit card issuers to its mobile payment platform.
Alipay and WeChat Pay will start accepting Visa and Mastercard transactions to make traveling to China a lot easier for foreign tourists. As of Friday, July 21, it was reported that travelers were able to link their Visa and Mastercard to the Chinese mobile payment apps.
With the linking, visitors that have Mastercard and Visa gain the benefits of hassle-free booking of taxis, riding the subway, and payment for their purchases and services across the country. As per CNN Business, the decision to accept the two cards is a revival of Alipay and WeChat Pay’s efforts to add foreign credit cards to their respective platforms.
Moreover, Alipay and WeChat decided to welcome foreign credit cards on their apps as local regulators in their country started to ease up restrictions. Then again, it was noted that they may still be some limitations to the use of Visa and Mastercard because only select Chinese merchants are allowed to process the cards at this time.
“As travel and tourism rebound, Mastercard is delighted to partner with Alipay to enable cardholders worldwide to enjoy the ultimate in payments security, convenience, and peace of mind as they work, play, rest, and roam during their journeys to China,” Mastercard Greater China executive vice president and division president, Dennis Chang, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, China Daily reported that the signing-up process for foreign travelers that use Visa and Mastercard is not different from how the users in mainland China do it. They need to download the Alipay and WeChat apps and then sign up to register. Once done, users may now link their credit or bank cards issued by Visa and Mastercard.
Photo by: Markus Winkler/Unsplash
