Indonesia links its QRIS payment network with China, letting tourists pay in yuan with a local app

Bank Indonesia on 11 May formally activated cross-border connectivity between its nationwide QRIS (Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard) and China’s QR code payment rails. Announced at the launch of Indonesia’s Digital Innovation Centre in Jakarta, the deal allows Indonesian consumers and business travellers to scan Chinese QR codes—such as those used by Alipay and WeChat Pay—directly from their domestic e-wallets and have the transaction settled in Indonesian rupiah or Chinese yuan in real time. Finnet Indonesia’s Finpay division, one of the routing partners, said it has provisioned capacity for 1,500 transactions per second to cater for the expected surge in usage. The company added that interoperable QR payments remove the need for Indonesian visitors to carry cash or open a Chinese bank account, lowering both foreign-exchange costs and security risks. Chinese tourists heading to Bali and Jakarta will likewise be able to pay merchants that display the QRIS logo using their existing Chinese wallets, further smoothing two-way travel. The move is part of a broader ASEAN push for QR interconnection—Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore already have live links with Indonesia—but China’s inclusion is the largest single expansion to date, connecting Indonesians to more than 200 Chinese cities that accept the People’s Bank of China’s unified QR scheme. Travel-industry executives forecast that the change could lift Indonesian visitor arrivals to China by double digits in the second half of 2026, aided by the country’s multiple-entry visa programme for business travellers.



Travellers who need help securing the appropriate visas before taking advantage of the new QR payment convenience can turn to VisaHQ, which offers an end-to-end online application service for China and other destinations. Their platform (https://www.visahq.com/china/) streamlines the paperwork, provides up-to-date entry requirements, and can courier-return approved passports, ensuring both tourists and corporate road-warriors are cleared to go before they land.

For corporates the benefits are tangible: expense reports can now be settled in home currency, reducing reconciliation time; small exporters attending the Canton Fair can pay for sample shipments instantly; and Indonesian students in China gain a familiar payment option for metro rides and campus canteen meals. Risk managers, however, warn that employees should still carry at least one international credit card as backup because some third-tier cities have yet to roll out the upgraded QR terminals. Mobility teams may wish to brief travellers on wallet limits (currently IDR 20 million per day for outbound QRIS payments) and remind them to enable roaming SMS to receive real-time transaction alerts. As with all cross-border e-payments, data-privacy compliance remains a watch-point, though both central banks stated that only tokenised information will cross the network.