The Governor of Bank Indonesia, Perry Warjiyo, has officially launched the cross-border implementation of the Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard between Indonesia and China.

With this launch, Indonesian citizens can now conduct cashless transactions in China using QRIS.

“Today, we officially launch QRIS between Indonesia and China,” Perry said during the inauguration of the Pusat Inovasi Digital Indonesia and the cross-border QRIS initiative in Jakarta on Thursday (April 30).

China is the latest country to be connected to QRIS, following its earlier implementation in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapura, Jepang, and Korea Selatan.

This implementation is already operational in both directions (inbound and outbound), allowing Indonesians to transact in China and vice versa.

Currently, QRIS usage in China is limited to merchants that use QR codes bearing the Alipay and UnionPay logos, and the service has been effective since Thursday (April 30).

Perry revealed that QRIS has now been used by more than 60 million users. He noted that this rapid growth is closely linked to the adoption of Artificial Intelligence in payment systems.

“AI has helped us. Previously, QRIS was fragmented, but now all payment systems are integrated through QRIS,” he explained.

The central bank had previously conducted pilot trials of QRIS implementation in China, recording 1.64 million transactions with a total value equivalent to Rp556 billion.

In the full implementation phase, 24 Indonesian providers are involved, consisting of 16 banks and 8 non-bank institutions, while 19 providers from China are participating.

The Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia, Wang Lutong, welcomed the launch and viewed the cooperation as part of the global financial sector transformation.

“We congratulate Indonesia on this achievement. We are living in a rapidly changing world, including in the banking sector,” he said.

He added that technological innovation is key to navigating these changes.

“We need to adapt to innovation, AI, and digitalization. We look forward to the official implementation of QRIS and will continue to expand cooperation by involving more banks and payment institutions,” he concluded.