China’s government has launched mini-programs on WeChat and Alipay that provide a wide variety of government services. The news was reported by Tencent Technology, which announced the WeChat mini program, and Chinese outlet Xinmin,which broke the story of the Chinese government’s debut on Alipay.
The WeChat mini program and Alipay applet give users access to 200 government services directly from their smartphones, doing away with geographic and time restrictions. These services cover different forms of inquiries, payments, application, and complaints across such matters as digital ID, education, civil administration, social security, entry and exits from the country, business registration, cultural travel, and the judicial system.
The apps are linked with China’s national identification system and can be used to add, modify, or access such information as marriage and childbirth certificates, academic transcripts and test scores, to check traffic violations, immigration clearance progress, to request disability services and nursing allowances, and more. Enterprise users can also use the platforms to check and update corporate information.
Both the WeChat mini program and Alipay mini app launched today in trial-mode.