China-Indonesia Cross-Border QR Payment Linkage Fully Launched, Achieving Nationwide Coverage
- Written by Telegraph Magazine
SHANGHAI, CHINA - Media OutReach Newswire - 15 June 2026 - On June 11, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and Bank Indonesia held the Second Governors' Meeting of the Joint Work Program in Shanghai, announcing a series of financial cooperation outcomes.
The China-Indonesia cross-border QR payment linkage was officially launched in the presence of the governors of both central banks. With this milestone, the number of UnionPay QR merchants outside the Chinese mainland has surpassed 46 million. In attendance at the ceremony were Dong Junfeng, Chairman of China UnionPay and UnionPay International (UPI); Santoso Liem, Chairman of the Indonesian Payment System Association (ASPI); Ge Haijiao, Chairman of Bank of China; Larry Wang, CEO of UPI; and Yang Peng, CEO of Ant International.
Under the government-to-government (G2G) framework, guided by both central banks, and with participation from multiple industry stakeholders, the payment linkage has become a benchmark for digital finance cooperation between China and Indonesia, creating profound impact in the following ways.
First, the linkage delivers convenient, secure, and efficient cross-border payment services to the people of both countries, facilitating bilateral people-to-business exchanges and promoting trade relations.
Second, UnionPay has fully leveraged its role as the hub of the payment industry, collaborating with Ant International and Bank of China (Hong Kong) Jakarta Branch to set a prime example of Chinese enterprises working in concert for global expansion.
Third, the project pioneers bilateral local currency settlement, whereby transactions made by Indonesian wallets in the Chinese mainland are settled in RMB, and transactions made by Chinese wallets in Indonesia are settled in Indonesian Rupiah—effectively enhancing the acceptance and user stickiness of the RMB in international markets.
Fourth, the initiative creates a replicable, scalable framework for cross-border payment connectivity, paving the way for an expansion into more regions across the globe, such as Latin America and Europe.
With the full rollout, two-way cross-border QR code payments have achieved near-nationwide coverage. So far, payment networks in seven out of the eleven ASEAN nations are interoperable with UnionPay.
Chinese users can now use the UnionPay App, banking apps integrated with the UnionPay MobileWallet Connect, and Alipay to make QR payments at tens of millions of QRIS (Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard) merchant locations across Indonesia. Likewise, visitors from Indonesia can pay to UnionPay and Alipay QR merchants in the Chinese mainland with dozens of major Indonesian wallets, such as MyBCA, OVO, DANA, GoPay, Mandiri and ShopeePay.
In recent years, UnionPay continues to grow its global card and QR payment networks and enhance its cross-border payment ecosystem. To date, UnionPay has launched over 200 UnionPay-powered wallets in 37 countries and regions outside the Chinese mainland. Since the beginning of 2026, transactions made by these wallets in China have doubled year-on-year in both transaction count and value, while the number of QR payments made outside the mainland by the UnionPay App and Chinese partner wallets has surged over 300% year-on-year. Moving forward, UnionPay will remain committed to its strategic vision of "Trusted Ties, Shared Success", scale up two-way payment linkages, enhance user experiences, and deliver more benefits to consumers worldwide.
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