The 20th anniversary of the China Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia (CCCI), celebrated in Jakarta on January 9, was framed as a moment of confidence and continuity. Indonesian and Chinese officials spoke of scale, stability and shared ambition.
With more than 600 Chinese-funded firms operating across Indonesia and bilateral trade reaching US$135.2 billion in 2024, the numbers alone tell a story of deepening economic interdependence.
But anniversaries are not only for celebration. They are also moments to ask harder questions about direction, responsibility and the quality — not just the quantity — of growth.
Speaking at the event, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for economic affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, emphasized the country’s readiness to expand cooperation with Chinese companies across priority sectors aligned with its development agenda: infrastructure, industrial downstreaming, clean energy, the digital economy, food security and human capital.
He highlighted the shared demographic and economic weight of Indonesia and China, both members of the G20, each sustaining growth of around 5% in recent years. This stability, he argued, provides a strong foundation for a long-term partnership.
Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, chairman of Indonesia’s National Economic Council, went further. Without Chinese investors, he said bluntly, Indonesia would not have achieved its ambitious downstreaming program.
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Over more than a decade, Chinese capital, technology, and industrial discipline have helped move Indonesia up the value chain, while also contributing to education, research and workforce development.
These claims are not wrong. Chinese investment has reshaped Indonesia’s industrial landscape, particularly in metals, manufacturing and energy-related supply chains. CCCI has played a central role as a bridge between governments and businesses, increasingly aware that social legitimacy matters as much as regulatory approval.
The chamber’s release of reports on the business environment and corporate social responsibility — and its donation of disaster relief funds following the floods in Sumatra — reflect a growing recognition that economic presence carries social obligations.
Yet the success story remains incomplete.
In sectors such as mining and palm oil, some Chinese firms continue to operate with environmental practices that fall short of Indonesian regulations and global norms. Water pollution, deforestation, weak land rehabilitation and opaque supply chains persist, fueling local resentment.
These problems are not exclusive to Chinese companies, but their scale and visibility make them politically sensitive in Indonesia, where environmental degradation increasingly shapes public debate.
Labor issues are another unresolved fault line. Reports of unsafe working conditions, wage disputes, limited union access and cultural tensions at Chinese-funded industrial sites continue to surface.
While many firms comply with Indonesian labor law, others exploit enforcement gaps. Over time, such practices risk undermining the very political support that large-scale foreign investment depends on—no matter how impressive the macroeconomic figures.
The most consequential test, however, lies ahead in the energy transition.
Both governments speak glowingly about green development. Chinese Ambassador Wang Lutong described China’s shift toward high-quality, innovation-driven and environmentally sustainable growth. Indonesian officials openly welcome deeper cooperation in renewable energy, electric vehicles and advanced technologies. On paper, the alignment is striking.
In practice, much China–Indonesia cooperation remains tethered to carbon-intensive pathways, including coal-fired power plants supporting industrial parks. If the partnership is serious about “high-quality growth,” the next phase must prioritize renewables, grid modernization, green financing and a just transition for workers and regions dependent on fossil fuels.
This will require more than rhetoric. Chinese state and private actors operating overseas must strengthen transparency, adopt stricter environmental and labor standards and engage more openly with local communities and civil society.
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Indonesian authorities, for their part, must enforce regulations consistently and resist the temptation to trade environmental and labor protections for short-term investment gains.
At 20 years old, CCCI stands at a crossroads. It can remain primarily a facilitator of deals and a celebrant of trade volumes — or it can evolve into a genuine standard-setter, pushing its members toward cleaner operations, better labor relations and deeper integration with Indonesian society. That second role is harder but ultimately more sustainable.
For Indonesia and China alike, the lesson is clear: economic scale alone no longer guarantees legitimacy. The next 20 years of their partnership will be judged not only by how much they trade or invest, but by how responsibly they grow—and whether prosperity is built without leaving damaged landscapes and disillusioned workers behind.
Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat is director of the China-Indonesia Desk at the Jakarta-based Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS) independent research institute. Yeta Purnama is a researcher at CELIOS.
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