SINGAPORE - Media OutReach Newswire - 22 September 2026 - On September 17, the 23rd China-ASEAN Expo opened in Nanning, Guangxi. Dong Junfeng, Chairman of China UnionPay and UnionPay International, attended the event and participated in the China-ASEAN Financial Cooperation and Development Forum.
Centering on the development of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 and marking the fifth anniversary of the China-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, this year's expo focused on deepening the integration of artificial intelligence and the real economy. UnionPay leverages AI technology and connectivity to enhance the effectiveness of China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation and drive the high-quality development of the digital ecosystem.
Driving AI-Powered Real Economy to Build New Advantages for ASEAN Digital and Intelligent Finance
Based on Guangxi's strategic position as a gateway to the ASEAN region, UnionPay is building an "AI + finance" innovation hub characterized by integrations in Guangxi, service delivery to ASEAN, and wider reach across the Asia-Pacific. Collaborations in progress include the development of high-quality, ASEAN-oriented financial corpora for AI training, the assessment and testing of the China-ASEAN financial AI service sharing network, and the co-creation of Guangxi's alliance for combating telecom fraud.
Powered by the AI-driven risk control system that it has developed in-house, UnionPay continues to strengthen cross-border risk governance. The Out-of-Band (OOB) enhanced authentication implementation has seen the overall fraud rate of pilot banks drop by 90% against pre-deployment levels. UnionPay is also collaborating with overseas terminal manufacturers to roll out intelligent upgrades on their devices, effectively preventing various cross-border payment risks and making cross-border financial services easier to use and more secure.
Echoing the expo's highlights, the UnionPay exhibition area also featured immersive experience zones for intelligent in-vehicle systems and smart glasses, showing how the Agentic Payment Open Protocol (APOP) framework enables the end-to-end integration of services and AI-powered payment in multiple use cases. The intuitive presentations demonstrated the efficacy of the financial AI product cycle that starts with R&D in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, integration in Guangxi, and eventually ends with application in the ASEAN nations. They also showcased AI's innovative value in powering the real economy and upgrading the financial sector.
Connecting Cross-Border Payment Rails to Drive Regional Economic and Trade Integration
This year's expo also featured a dedicated area for matching supply and demand in AI-powered procurement. Focusing on the three themes of "Procurement in China," "Export to China," and "Investment in China," UnionPay continues to refine its payment service system for ASEAN by strengthening the infrastructure for regional economic and trade connectivity.
UnionPay's acceptance network has expanded to ten ASEAN countries, covering over 38 million QR merchants in the region. Contactless payment acceptance at POS terminals and ATMs, as well as local card issuance, is also available extensively in these markets. In multiple ASEAN countries, UnionPay is creating benchmarks for cross-border connectivity under the government-to-government cooperation model. A prime example is the China-Indonesia QR payment linkage that went live this past June, bringing the number of UnionPay's overseas QR merchants to over 46 million. The interoperability of payment network standards and the integration of the systems involved have also been completed with many other ASEAN members. For example, the cooperation between China and Vietnam is accelerating. A single integration of systems has ensured standards harmonization, allowing Chinese consumers to use their wallets in Vietnam, while work is underway to enable the acceptance of Vietnam-based wallets in China.
Building on retail payment connectivity, UnionPay continues to broaden its service offerings. To meet the needs arising from the cross-border expansion of enterprises and industrial chains, UnionPay leverages its self-developed integrated information service platform for cross-border B2B transactions to create digital payment solutions for emerging business models, such as cross-border e-commerce and flight and hotel services, empowering industry partners in the process.
Upgrading Cross-Border Consumer Services to Unlock Potential for New Use Cases of AI-Powered Purchasing
This year's expo placed a strong focus on the upgrade of everyday consumption. A first-ever "AI product marketplace" was set up that promoted cross-border AI-driven consumer purchasing. Addressing the various needs of business people and general consumers visiting China during their travel cycles, which ranges from transport, shopping to the final departure from the country, UnionPay has launched the Nihao China App, an all-in-one platform of intelligent and digital cross-border services. The solution targeted precisely the above needs of the ASEAN businesses and consumers during the expo. Supporting easy sign-up with international mobile numbers and email addresses, the Nihao China App allows users to pay via mainstream Chinese QR codes without needing to link a Chinese bank card. The app provides multilingual assistance across high-frequency use cases in 27 languages, such as cross-border shopping, cultural tourism, transit, and everyday purchases. The app also facilitates departure tax refunds by streamlining the process for travelers, closing the payment loop with an intelligent, all-inclusive service.
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