E-card could speed up Bay Area border checks

Tencent Holdings Ltd said it is working on an e-card electronic document system to ease border crossing procedures for people traveling across Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macao.

According to Tencent, multiple travel documents including identity cards and travel permits could be linked to its WeChat application in future. Users from the Chinese mainland and the two special administrative regions would then be able to scan a code on their smartphones at border checkpoints to travel quickly among Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area cities.

"Border crossing is always regarded as a barrier preventing the free flow of talent in the Bay Area. Tencent hopes to realize mutual digital identity authentication and enable users to move freely with just a mobile phone," said Jim Lai Chi-ming, vice-president of Tencent and dean of Tencent Finance Academy, on Wednesday.