On June 11, the People’s Bank of China and the Bank of Indonesia held the second governors’ meeting of the joint working mechanism and released a series of practical cooperation results.
Witnessed by the governors of the two central banks, the China-Indonesia cross-border QR code payment interconnection project was officially launched.
So far, the number of overseas merchants accepting UnionPay QR codes has exceeded 46 million.
Dong Junfeng, Chairman of China UnionPay and Chairman of UnionPay International, Santoso, Chairman of Association of Indonesian Payment Systems (ASPI), Ge Haijiao, Chairman of Bank of China, Wang Lixin, CEO of UnionPay International, and Yang Peng, CEO of Ant International attended the launch ceremony.
China-Indonesia cross-border QR code interconnection relies on the government-to-government (G2G) cooperation model. It is a benchmark financial cooperation achievement under the overall guidance of the central banks of the two countries and jointly built by multiple industry parties, and is of great significance.
First of all, connectivity will bring convenient, safe and efficient cross-border payment services to residents of both countries, and promote bilateral personnel exchanges and economic and trade exchanges.
In the past, cross-border payments may have problems such as cumbersome procedures and long payment times. However, the launch of this project will make it easier for residents of both countries to complete payments when making cross-border purchases. Whether it is travel shopping or business transactions, it will become smoother.
Secondly, UnionPay gives full play to its central role in the payment industry and joins forces with Ant International and Bank of China Hong Kong Jakarta Branch to form a good example for Chinese enterprises to go overseas as a team.
This cooperation model not only enhances the competitiveness of Chinese companies in the international market, but also provides other companies with lessons learned.
By integrating resources from all parties, we can better meet market demand and improve service quality.
Furthermore, exploring the application of bilateral local currency settlement, that is, the use of Indonesian wallets in China to settle in RMB, and the use of Chinese wallets in Indonesia to settle in Indonesian rupiah, can effectively increase the acceptance and use stickiness of RMB in overseas markets.
This will help promote the internationalization of the RMB and strengthen financial cooperation between China and Indonesia.
Finally, this project is conducive to continuing to innovate replicable cross-border payment interconnection and expansion models, and further replicating cooperation practices to wider regions such as Latin America and Europe.
This will provide new ideas and models for the development of global cross-border payments and promote the development of global trade.
After the China-Indonesia cross-border QR code payment interconnection project was launched, the payment networks of 7 of the 11 ASEAN countries have been interconnected with UnionPay.
From now on, China-Indonesia two-way cross-border QR code payment will basically achieve full coverage.
Users in China can use Cloud QuickPass, commercial bank APPs connected to the Cloud QuickPass online payment platform, and Alipay to scan and pay at tens of millions of QRIS merchants in Indonesia. Indonesian users in China can also use dozens of domestic mainstream e-wallets such as MyBCA, OVO, DANA, GOPAY, Mandiri, ShopeePay, etc. to “scan and pay” at merchants that accept UnionPay and Alipay QR codes.
In recent years, UnionPay has been committed to promoting the construction of a global payment network that supports card and code integration and continuously improving the cross-border payment ecosystem.
Currently, UnionPay has launched over 200 UnionPay standard wallets in 37 overseas countries and regions.
Since 2026, the number and amount of transactions in China with UnionPay’s overseas cooperative wallets have doubled year-on-year; the number of overseas code-scanning transactions using domestic UnionPay APPs and UnionPay’s cooperative wallets has more than tripled year-on-year.
In the future, UnionPay will adhere to the strategic vision of “mutual trust, interconnection, and joint value creation”, expand the scale of two-way interconnection projects, optimize cross-border payment service experience, and effectively enhance people’s livelihood, consumption and well-being.
