Officially launching cross-border payment service via QR code between Vietnam and China

Ceremony to announce bilateral retail payment connection via QR code between Vietnam and China.

On December 2, in Hanoi, the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) in collaboration with UnionPay International (UPI), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), and Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam ( Vietcombank ) held a ceremony to announce the bilateral retail payment connection via QR code between Vietnam and China.

Speaking at the announcement ceremony, Director of the Payment Department ( State Bank of Vietnam ) Pham Anh Tuan affirmed: The project of cooperation in connecting bilateral retail payments via QR codes between Vietnam and China is one of the important tasks to implement the Joint Statement between Vietnam and China during the visit to Vietnam by Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang in October 2024, which includes the content of implementing cooperation in connecting QR codes across borders, promoting monetary cooperation, including research on cooperation in local currency payments.

UPI, NAPAS and two settlement banks ICBC (China) and Vietcombank (Vietnam) signed a four-party cooperation agreement, affirming their common commitment to deploying bilateral retail payment connections via QR codes between the two countries.

Mr. Pham Anh Tuan spoke at the announcement ceremony.

“The successful bilateral retail payment connection cooperation with countries has contributed to promoting trade and tourism between Vietnam and cooperating countries. In particular, the cross-border retail payment connection project between Vietnam and China is one of the most anticipated projects this year. In the last month of 2025, we will witness the most important and memorable moment of this project, officially supplying the market, deploying services for Chinese customers in Vietnam - Vietnam inbound direction and expected to soon deploy Vietnam outbound direction for Vietnamese customers when coming to China in the first quarter of 2026, promising a positive start for the new year 2026”, Mr. Pham Anh Tuan emphasized.

In the first 9 months of 2025, Vietnam welcomed more than 15.4 million international visitors, an increase of 21.5% over the same period, of which China was the leading market with nearly 3.9 million visitors, an increase of 43.9% over the same period. With the above impressive figures, connecting cross-border payments via QR codes between Vietnam and China is expected to bring huge convenience in local currency payments to Chinese tourists when coming to Vietnam; as well as Vietnamese tourists when coming to China, contributing to the goal of promoting cashless payments of both countries. "We can imagine the prospect of millions of Vietnamese tourists using their own banking applications to scan QR codes in China to make payments quickly and vice versa. This not only brings convenience and safety in payment but also promotes economic development and people-to-people exchange cooperation between the two countries," Mr. Tuan added.

Representatives of the parties at the announcement ceremony.

In the initial implementation phase, Chinese tourists can scan the VIETQRGlobal code to pay at payment acceptance points, including shopping malls, shopping areas, tourist attractions, restaurants and retail stores in Vietnam. In particular, with a network of leading retail, FnB, and travel brands such as: Supermarket system of Center Retail Vietnam Group, Highland Coffee chain, payment acceptance units of the Sun World ecosystem, connecting bilateral payment services via QR code between Vietnam and China will help Vietnamese businesses attract a large number of Chinese tourists, while providing a fast, convenient and safe payment experience for tourists.

According to the plan, in early 2026, NAPAS and UPI will continue to complete the reverse payment connection, allowing Vietnamese users to scan QR codes using payment applications of NAPAS member organizations to pay at payment acceptance units in the UnionPay network in China. The two-way deployment will create a complete cross-border QR payment ecosystem, fully serving the consumption, travel, business and transportation needs of people in the two countries.

At the announcement ceremony, Mr. Larry Wang, Vice Chairman and General Director of UnionPay International (CEO) said: “Vietnam is an important economic and trade partner and a key overseas tourist destination for China. Over the past two decades, UnionPay has been promoting in-depth development in the Vietnamese market and establishing a wide-ranging payment service network. This cross-border QR code connection project utilizes the local currency payment mechanism to promote the internationalization of the Chinese Yuan (RMB). Optimizing the cross-border payment experience will further facilitate economic, trade and people-to-people exchanges between China and Vietnam. UnionPay will continue to strengthen cooperation with NAPAS to jointly build an open, safe and efficient regional payment ecosystem; contribute to the development of ASEAN's digital payment infrastructure; and create sustainable momentum for financial connectivity between countries in the region. area

Mr. Nguyen Quang Minh spoke at the announcement ceremony.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Minh, General Director of NAPAS shared: “Under the direction of the State Bank of Vietnam, as the national retail payment infrastructure operator, NAPAS has proactively enhanced international connectivity to deploy cross-border payment solutions between Vietnam and countries in the region. The bilateral retail payment connection via QR code between Vietnam and China is the result of close cooperation between NAPAS, UPI and banks. This service not only brings a seamless and convenient payment experience to people of the two countries, but also contributes to enhancing financial connectivity, promoting the use of local currencies in cross-border payments, and developing trade, tourism as well as broader economic cooperation between the two countries.”

Based on the inheritance and expansion of the VIETQR standard currently applied to NAPAS 247 fast money transfer transactions, since the beginning of 2025, NAPAS has upgraded the technical standards to standardize QR code payment services for domestic retail payment transactions, while creating a platform to promote cross-border payment transactions. In the roadmap for implementing cross-border payment services using QR codes, VIETQRGlobal was chosen as the official name so that international visitors to Vietnam can easily identify QR code payment acceptance points in Vietnam, thereby making cross-border payment transactions quickly and conveniently.

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In the project to connect bilateral retail payments via QR codes between Vietnam and China, the parties have coordinated to deploy a modern digital payment infrastructure, gradually connecting the payment ecosystems of the two countries in a synchronous, safe and international standard manner. The project aims to provide users of the two countries with a fast, convenient and safe cross-border payment method, meeting the growing demand in the context of increasingly strong development of trade, tourism and cooperation between Vietnam and China.

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