Sina, Alipay unite against Tencent

Sina Weibo, a popular micro-blogging platform in China, and Alipay, a leading e-payment provider, joined forces Tuesday to declare war on rival service WeChat, an increasingly influential mobile chatting app owned by Tencent Holdings Ltd.

The team-up of Sina Weibo and Alipay, the e-payment arm of China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, should boost social e-commerce, which lets micro-bloggers easily buy products that are posted by their friends.

With Alipay integrated into Sina Weibo, users on Sina Corp's Twitter-like Weibo platform can connect their Alipay accounts with their Weibo accounts and buy items without having to log in. And after making a purchase, users can choose to share their orders with followers on Weibo.