PayPal Holdings Inc. has partnered with UnionPay International to allow millions of customers to use the Chinese mobile wallet with PayPal's 24 million global merchant partners, while PayPal will gain access to the lucrative Chinese payments market. 

PayPal will support UnionPay acceptance everywhere in the world where PayPal is accepted, which will open up shopping opportunities at thousands of international retailers for UnionPay customers. 

"At PayPal, we are proud of this landmark agreement with UnionPay International and the global impact that this creates for our joint customers, building on our status as the first foreign payments platform licensed to process online payments in China," Jim Magats, senior vice president, global payments at PayPal, said in a company release. "This partnership will give UnionPay customers more choice when shopping cross border and has the ability to contribute to the overall growth of China's e-commerce ecosystem."

He said PayPal will also have access to physical retailers that accept UnionPay, both in China and internationally. 

Union Pay can now be added to PayPal digital wallets in Australia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines. The companies plan to add another 30 countries this year.

"With about 130 million UnionPay cards issued outside mainland China, UnionPay cards are becoming an important payment option of more and more global customers," Larry Wang, vice president, UnionPay International, said in the release. "We are very glad to deepen (our) collaboration with PayPal, the global leader in e-commerce."

The companies will also explore the application of new products and payment modes in cross-border payments.