Foreigners' Payments Surge in China... Exceeding 1 Trillion in the First Half of the Year

Thanks to optimization measures by Chinese authorities, the payment amount made by foreigners within China in the first half of this year increased sevenfold compared to the previous year.

On the 4th, the Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper, People's Daily, citing data from the local payment platform Wanglian, reported that the number of payment transactions made by foreigners in China during the first half of the year reached 28.75 million, which is 5.29 times that of the previous year. Based on payment amount, it recorded 5.32 billion yuan (approximately 1.0081 trillion KRW), showing a sevenfold surge during the same period.

[Image source= Xinhua News Agency]

This result is interpreted as a consequence of the authorities' policy to simplify payment processes for overseas travelers since the beginning of this year. In March, China announced a payment service optimization plan, instructing to enhance the convenience of card and cash usage for foreigners and to make linking payment apps and cards easier. Measures such as simplifying authentication and raising transaction limits (daily from 1,000 USD to 5,000 USD) were also introduced.

At that time, the central bank, the People's Bank of China, directly launched a multilingual payment service guide for foreigners, while international payment card companies such as Visa and Mastercard reduced card fees within China.

Dong Xiaopeng, a senior researcher at the Central Financial Research Institute of Renmin University of China, told the state-run Global Times (GT), "As we enter a new phase in the post-COVID era, the government's measures aim to promote human exchanges with the world," emphasizing, "The inconveniences felt by foreigners will gradually be effectively resolved."

China currently implements a 144-hour visa-free transit policy for 54 countries, which is also aimed at promoting tourism to China. From January to May this year, the number of foreigners entering China exceeded 12 million, among whom more than 7 million visited China using the 144-hour visa-free transit.