Time to face up to high-tech solution

A senior citizen tries out facial recognition technology at a fair in Hangzhou on May 27, 2017. [Photo/China Daily]

Liu Yue'e manages her social security payments by swiping her smartphone and using facial recognition technology.

The self-employed businesswoman from East China's Zhejiang province connects through the online mobile payment app Alipay. The process takes less than five minutes.

Facial recognition technology was co-developed by Alipay and Megvii Technology Inc, an internet startup rolled out at Tsinghua University, China's top-ranking institute, in 2012.

In a statement, Alipay pointed out that the accuracy of facial recognition is 99.6 percent and is popular in the financial and security sectors.

Zhejiang is the first province to use the technology for tax purposes.

The Zhejiang Local Taxation Bureau joined hands with Alipay on March 1 to build its own e-civic service platform, "City Services" section, embedded in an Alipay app.

A total of 8 million people in Zhejiang are aware of the service with many of them making personal income tax inquiries.

The bureau is planning to deepen its connection with Alipay in more areas in the near future, such as the exchange of contracts in house buying, personal income tax payments, and policy and regulation inquiries.

Alipay's statement said the facial recognition technology will better serve the public and improve service efficiency of the government.

In addition to taxation, digital channels are also crucial to the administration functions of Zhejiang. In the Nanhu district of Jiaxing city, a self-developed online platform helps companies to streamline their business license applications.

The platform is developed by the Zhejiang-based Insigma Technology Co Ltd. With help from Zhejiang University, the company is devoted to promoting the concept of a "smart city" or managing urban development via digital technologies.

It mainly provides system integration and solutions for governments and companies involved in infrastructure construction.

"The large amount of paper work that requires confirmation and signature approval from every shareholder used to plague government services," said Li Minglian, deputy director of the Nanhu District Administrative Examination and Approval Bureau.

Jiaxing Guiyi Investment Co faced a typical problem. The company has six partners with five of them living in Beijing and Shanghai, and the other living abroad.

It decided to initiate a joint business and applied for a license. It typically can take weeks or even months with the mailing and return of documents.

Fortunately, by using the platform, the partners were provided with a one-stop online service that enabled them to have their appeals approved instantly online.

According to Li, business owners get their "digital roads" paved from the very beginning.

For example, identities are checked via Alipay or facial recognition technology.

In addition, the business owners can verify their identity by signing digitally on their phones or tablet. The following online document submission and approval, as well as the issuing of licenses via express delivery, has allowed the process to take place completely online.

"By implementing the national Internet Plus strategy at ground level, we will continue to add more features on online platforms, and develop more functions within the app," Li said.

Owen Fishwick contributed to this story