US PayPal users can now pay at tens of millions of WeChat merchants in China. Bilibili launches international app. The moves mark a gradual opening of China's internet economy as tech firms seek growth abroad.
PayPal users in the US can now make in-store QR payments at Weixin Pay merchants across China, the companies said on August 11. The integration lets tourists pay without downloading a separate app or setting up a Chinese bank account. Separately, Bilibili, the youth-focused video platform, launched an international version of its app this month and began recruiting creators in Japan and the US, with European hiring planned.
The two moves mark a shift in China's internet economy, which has long been closed to foreign users. Platforms like WeChat, Douyin, and Weibo required Mandarin interfaces and Chinese phone numbers for registration. Payment was a hurdle too, since China's digital wallet ecosystem runs on Alipay and Weixin Pay, both tied to local bank accounts. "It was almost impossible to be a tourist in China without WeChat Pay or Alipay," said Jeffrey Towson, founder of TechMoat Consulting. The PayPal integration largely solves that problem.
Allison Malmsten, a public research director at Daxue Consulting, said that for decades China's digital universe existed separately from the rest of the world. The PayPal-WeChat integration shows China playing a bigger global role.
The biggest beneficiary is Tencent, which owns WeChat and the underlying payment infrastructure through its TenPay platform. Tencent's Alpha Score sits at 52 out of 100, a mixed reading that reflects its dominant position and the regulatory risks around cross-border data flows. Bilibili, which started an X account this month and announced its international app, is following a path blazed by TikTok and RedNote. RedNote, known in China as Xiaohongshu, gained a large international audience last year when TikTok faced a US divest-or-ban mandate.
Towson said that TikTok proved Chinese mobile apps could succeed abroad. Now every Chinese company he talks to has an international plan, partly because domestic consumption is stagnating and, in some sectors, slowing.
The broader readthrough is for the Chinese internet sector. Companies like Tencent, Bilibili, and even Alibaba (through Alipay) stand to gain from increased foreign user engagement. The opening remains gradual. WeChat Pay's integration with PayPal is limited to in-store QR payments, not online transactions or peer-to-peer transfers. Bilibili's international app is still in early access, with more countries coming soon, the company said.
The trend extends beyond payments and social media. Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI released its Kimi K3 open-weight model, promising frontier intelligence at a fraction of Western costs. Jacob Cooke, CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, said Chinese tech firms are making aggressive, intentional forays into foreign markets to tap into foreign demand.
Bilibili's international app is available for download in select regions. The company said in an X post on Wednesday that access for more countries is coming soon.
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