Under the guidance of Bank Indonesia and People's Bank of China, the China-Indonesia cross-border QR payment linkage was launched between Indonesia’s Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) and China’s leading payment ecosystems, enabled by Alipay+, the unified wallet gateway of Ant International, and UnionPay International.
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The launch of the Indonesia-China QR connectivity was announced at an event held at Bank Indonesia, Jakarta
A milestone in regional connectivity, the initiative opens a new bridge for commerce between the 1.4 billion Chinese people and the 280-million strong citizens of Southeast Asia's most populous and digital-native economy. Consumers from both countries now may make seamless and secure QR code payments using their home e-wallets.
At the launch, users of Alipay, an Alipay+ wallet partner, and the UnionPay App can pay at more than 40 million QRIS merchants across Indonesia, mostly MSMEs. On the other hand, QRIS-supported e-wallets and bank apps will be able to scan over 80 million Alipay and UnionPay QR codes within China.
The implementation of QR payments between Indonesia and China strengthens the commitment to using local currencies in cross-border transactions, enhancing visibility of exchange rate and travel convenience, and promoting more efficient tourism and trade flows.
Driving Growth for Local Merchants
This linkage significantly expands access for local businesses—especially micro and small enterprises—to international customers, between two major economies in Asia. For local Indonesian merchants, the launch requires no new hardware or integration: an existing merchant QRIS code is all that's needed to accept payments from Chinese travellers, unlocking new revenue streams from inbound tourism and cross-border consumption.
In 2025, Chinese arrivals to Indonesia reached a six-year high, with more than 1.34 million visitors. Enabling frictionless payment for these visitors has a direct impact on merchant revenues, particularly for the MSMEs who make over 99% of all businesses in Indonesia.
Advancing Interoperability Across National Payment Networks
The QRIS–China linkage reflects a broader push toward interoperable, real-time payment connectivity across Asia. The cross-border QR payment linkage is a government-to-government initiative supported by industry partners like Ant International. Alipay+ provides the technical layer connecting both ecosystems, enabling interoperability between payment systems, allowing users to pay with their home wallets while merchants receive funds through their existing domestic infrastructure.
This collaboration is part of ongoing efforts to create an open, inclusive payments ecosystem that supports regional trade, travel, and digital economic growth. It also builds on expanding QRIS cross-border connectivity across ASEAN and beyond.
Cross-border QRIS transactions via Alipay showed good growth momentum during the pilot phase, reflecting the growing awareness and engagement for cross-border QR transactions. It also emphasizes the importance of strengthening innovation and digital readiness to ensure that digital transformation adds value to the national economy.
“Interoperability is the foundation of the next generation of cross-border payments,” said Michael Guo, Alipay+ General Manager for SEA, South Asia and ANZ, Ant International. “Through Alipay+, we connect national QR schemes with global merchants and wallet users, enabling local businesses to participate in the digital economy on a global scale. This recent launch reflects our continued commitment to building an open, seamless payments ecosystem that benefits merchants, consumers, and economies.”
As merchant adoption and wallet connection expand, the initiative is expected to further accelerate digital payment usage, strengthen financial inclusion, and deepen economic connectivity between Indonesia, China, and the broader region.
The Indonesia-China launch reflects Alipay+'s commitment to connecting with national payment schemes. As a unified wallet gateway, Alipay+ partners with 50 international e-wallets and bank apps, connecting their more than 2 billion user accounts to more than 150 million merchants, including over 10 national payment schemes across Asia and beyond.
Ant International is a leading global digital payment, digitisation and financial technology provider, offering a unified techfin platform supporting financial institutions and merchants of all sizes to achieve inclusive growth. It's unified wallet gateway, Alipay+, provides cross-border payment and digital services that help connect global merchants to consumers.
About Ant International
Ant International is a leading global digital payment, digitisation and financial technology provider. Through collaboration across the private and public sectors, our unified techfin platform supports financial institutions and merchants of all sizes to achieve inclusive growth through a comprehensive range of cutting-edge digital payment and financial services solutions. To learn more, please visit https://www.ant-intl.com/
About Alipay+
Ant International's Alipay+ is a unified wallet gateway with cross-border payment and digitisation services that help connect global merchants to consumers. Consumers enjoy seamless payments a broad choice of deals and the convenience of digital services using their preferred payment app/e-wallet while travelling abroad. Many small and medium-sized businesses already use Alipay+ digital tools to enhance efficiency and achieve omni-channel growth.
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