China issues e-CNY user guide to optimize mobile payment for foreigners

BEIJING -- China's central bank issued an e-CNY (digital yuan) user guide on Monday, the latest move aimed at facilitating mobile payment for foreigners.

Mobile phone users can search for "e-CNY" in the App Store or Google Play to download and install the digital yuan app, and tap the "Sign up" option to register an account, according to a bilingual statement from the People's Bank of China.

Next, click "Open/Add e-CNY Wallets" and select any authorized operator that supports international services to complete the registration process and start using e-CNY wallet(s), the statement explained.

The e-CNY wallet can be registered using mobile phone numbers from over 210 countries and regions, according to the central bank statement.

To further enhance payment convenience for foreigners in China, Alipay has increased its service languages to 16 from the earlier two -- Chinese and English.

Alipay and WeChat Pay, China's two major payment apps, announced earlier this month that foreign users can now link their international credit cards, including Visa and Mastercard, to these platforms.