SHANGHAI, Sept. 29, 2025 -- On September 16, it was announced that China's Cross-border Interconnection Gateway (CPG) had officially begun trial operation in late July. UnionPay International contributed to developing the CPG's core elements over a six-month period. Guided by public-oriented inclusivity and accessibility, the CPG enables institutions in and outside China's mainland to achieve cross-border QR code interoperability with one point access. Providing services such as unified technical interfaces, switching and distribution of cross-border transaction information, and real-time transaction monitoring and analysis, CPG supports participating players in making cross-border QR code payments more efficient, convenient, and secure for users throughout the world.
The pilot launch of CPG offers easy access for both Chinese and international partners. Institutions in the Chinese mainland can complete integration directly using UnionPay's standardized interfaces, while overseas partners can connect to CPG through UnionPay International. This arrangement not only facilitates cross-border QR code payments between China's mainland and the rest of the world, but also enables local QR code payments in markets outside China's mainland as well as cross-border QR code payments between such markets.
CPG onboarding with one point access through UnionPay brings four advantages to partners when they implement cross-border QR code linkages. First, it reduces system integration costs and resource waste from repeated system changes. Second, it promotes unified standards for cooperation with overseas wallet providers, delivers higher efficiency and better experience to them when they access China's payment market, and fosters fair competition and healthy development in the global cross-border QR code payment ecosystem. Third, overseas wallets can have broader acceptance coverage in the Chinese mainland. Beyond UnionPay's network, WeChat Pay QR code merchants in the mainland will also be able to accept payments from these wallets. Fourth, CPG uses a unified information interface for both the inbound payments of overseas wallets and the outbound transactions of Chinese wallets, enabling the centralized management of cross-border QR code payments. This will support participating institutions in delivering more secure and reliable services to global users.
Through collaboration with UnionPay, overseas wallet operators can unlock value in two aspects. On one hand, they can offer mobile payment capabilities in more use cases with UnionPay's integrated wallet payment solution supporting OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) Pay, QR code payments, and in-app payments. They can also tap into UnionPay's global partnership network. On the other hand, they can leverage UnionPay card benefits and use case-based value-added services to boost user engagement.
As a key developer of CPG, UnionPay has been advancing QR code interoperability through comprehensive services and ecosystem development in recent years. In China's mainland, UnionPay has intensified efforts to promote Project Excellence and continued to improve payment services for international visitors to China. As of August this year, this initiative covers 1.35 million merchants in key use cases, 232 aggregated QR code products accept overseas wallets for payments, and 168 major online merchants accept UnionPay cards issued outside the Chinese mainland. A solid foundation has been laid for a unified and more convenient payment ecosystem in China. Data shows that transactions made in China's mainland using UnionPay cards issued outside China's mainland or international UnionPay partner wallets have increased by 111% in number and 29% in value year-on-year.
Internationally, UnionPay has promoted cross-border QR code interoperability with two partnership models that run in parallel: Government-to-Government (G2G) and Network-to-Network (N2N) models. So far, UnionPay has launched or is working on 19 interoperability projects with counterparts in 19 countries, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Argentina. As a result, over 11 million overseas merchants accept UnionPay QR code payments; this number will increase to tens of millions by the end of this year. On the account side, over 170 overseas QR code payment wallets have been integrated into UnionPay's network, covering 30 countries and regions outside China's mainland.
Official data underscores CPG's rapidly increasing usage: By September 11, it had processed 1.981 million transactions worth RMB 427 million. As China expands its visa-free entry policies, UnionPay's continuous efforts to improve CPG's infrastructure will play a pivotal role in unlocking the potential for inbound consumption growth, facilitating global travel and business exchanges, and solidifying CPG's position as a cornerstone of international payment interoperability.
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