The government has secured investment commitments from China for 16 projects valued at a total of IDR 36.4 trillion (US$2.2 billion) under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) linked to the “Two Countries, Two Parks” initiative. Coordinating Economy Minister Airlangga Hartarto announced on Thursday that the agreement was finalized during a meeting with a Chinese Communist Party representative from the city of Fuzhou on Wednesday.
“During the meeting, an MoU was issued for 16 projects. These 16 projects are related to the Two Countries, Two Parks program. The total investment for the 16 projects is IDR 36.4 trillion,” Airlangga said at the State Palace in Jakarta, as reported by Kumparan. The project portfolio spans heavy industries, agriculture, and trade. Key initiatives include establishing a 1-million-tonne steel plant, a food processing facility for meat and marine products, and a specialized textile research and development center. The projects also venture into coal, nickel-iron (Fe-Ni) trade, textile raw materials, and plantations.
The partnership is expected to further develop the agricultural sector, according to Airlangga, involving collaborative ventures in the tea industry, as well as the direct sourcing of key agricultural products, such as coconuts and durians. A significant portion of this new investment is slated for the Batang Industrial Special Economic Zone in Central Java. The minister hailed the influx of capital as a driver of regional development, saying it was “one way to accelerate investment in the Batang Industrial Zone.”
The Two Countries, Two Parks program was established as a key outcome of a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in Beijing last November. The initiative focuses on investment in three locations: the Batang Industrial Estate, the Wijayakusuma Industrial Estate in Semarang, also in Central Java, and the Bintan Industrial Estate in the Riau Islands province.
Chinese companies have been pivoting toward Indonesia not only for its export potential but also to tap into the vast domestic market. Gao Xiaoyu, the founder of an industrial land consulting firm in Jakarta, has been inundated with calls from Chinese companies eager to expand or set up operations in Indonesia as they try to shield themselves from hefty United States import tariffs, according to a Reuters report published on Aug. 14.
US duties on goods shipped from China currently exceed 30 percent. The US tariff rate for most goods from Indonesia is lower, at 19 percent, which is the same as imports from Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand, and just below Vietnam’s 20 percent. But Indonesia, as Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and the world’s fourth-most populous country, has an edge over its neighbors, namely the potential of its vast consumer market. Vietnam and Thailand were among the major beneficiaries of the first wave of Chinese companies’ overseas diversification, but amid the latest trade turmoil with the US, other neighbors are also benefiting.
November 28, 2025, The Jakarta Post(https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2025/11/28/ri-china-ink-2-2-billion-in-deals-for-16-investment-projects-airlangga.html)