经济学人：中国“小老板”的新天堂

作者：经济学人        来源：一天一篇外刊

When Donny Zhang first visited Indonesia from China as a venture capitalist in 2015, he was amazed by how curious regulators were about Alipay, one of China's most successful online-payment apps. In 2021 he co-founded Yup, a similar app for working-class Indonesians (who are often ill-served by local banks). Indonesia was an appealing place to start a business, says Mr Zhang. It is a big emerging market, it is not too far from China and almost everyone has a smartphone.

2015年，中国风险投资人 Donny Zhang 初到印尼时，惊讶地发现，当地监管机构对支付宝表现出了浓厚兴趣。支付宝是中国最成功的线上支付应用之一。2021年，Donny Zhang与合伙人共同创立了Yup，这款类似支付宝的应用主要面向印尼工薪阶层。因为本地银行往往服务不到他们。张先生说，这里不仅是一个体量巨大的新兴市场，离中国也近，而且几乎人人都用智能手机。

Mr Zhang is just one among a vast number of Chinese who are choosing to work and start companies in the world's fourth-most-populous country (290m-strong). Indonesia issued more than 100,000 residence permits to Chinese migrants in 2024, more than double the number issued to people from all other countries combined, according to Indonesia’s ministry of manpower. This tally was up from 80,000 the year before. “In reality that number is even higher because many Chinese initially enter on tourist visas when they're setting up their businesses,” says an Indonesian-Chinese businessman.

张先生只是众多赴印尼打拼的中国人中的一员。这里人口约2.9亿，是全球第四大人口国。印尼人力部的数据显示，2024年印尼向中国发放了10多万张居留许可，这比发给其他所有国家人数的总和还要高出一倍多；而在2023年，这一数字为8万。 一位印尼华商说：实际上，真实人数还要更多，因为很多中国人在创业初期，往往会先拿旅游签入境。

Big, recognisable brands from China are also now expanding in Indonesia. A few years ago it was rare to see a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) cruising the streets of Jakarta. Now they are commonplace. Chinese brands made up more than 90% of EV sales in the first half of 2025. BYD is spending more than $1bn to build a factory that will produce up to 150,000 cars a year in West Java. GAC Aion, XPeng and Wuling have already started manufacturing locally. “Indonesia today feels like China in the 1980s,” says a Chinese businessman who works for an Indonesian firm. “There are so many opportunities.”

如今，越来越多中国知名品牌开始进军印尼。几年前，雅加达街头还很少看到中国电动车，如今却已随处可见。2025年上半年，印尼电动车销量中，超过九成都来自中国品牌。比亚迪正斥资逾10亿美元，在西爪哇建设工厂，年产能最高可达15万辆。广汽埃安、小鹏和五菱也已经在当地投产。一位在印尼企业任职的中国商人说：“如今的印尼，让人感觉像是上世纪80年代的中国，到处是机会。”

Indonesia attracts EV manufacturers in part because it has the world's largest reserves of nickel, a metal needed for making some types of EV batteries. Chinese firms already control three-quarters of nickel refining in the country, and are building infrastructure to turn that material into cells for EVs. CATL, the world's largest battery-maker, is constructing an integrated battery plant in West Java while Huayou Cobalt, a Chinese firm, recently replaced LG, a South Korean company, as the lead partner in a separate battery project. The Chinese investors are putting nearly $10bn into the two projects, combined.

印尼之所以吸引电动车制造商，一个重要原因是它拥有全球最大的镍储量，而镍正是电动车电池不可或缺的原材料。如今，中企业已经掌握了印尼约四分之三的镍精炼业务，并正建设配套基础设施，把镍进一步加工成电动车所需的电池电芯。全球最大的电池制造商宁德时代正在西爪哇建设一座一体化电池工厂；与此同时，中国企业华友钴业取代韩国公司 LG，成为另一项电池项目的主要合作方。这两个项目合计吸引了近100亿美元的中方投资。

作者：经济学人        来源：一天一篇外刊