China-Indonesia cooperation. Illustration: Xia Qing/GT

For many Indonesians and Chinese visitors alike, Bali is best known as Indonesia's iconic holiday destination, a picture-perfect island lined with beach resorts. 

Yet beyond the tourist hubs, another important story is unfolding here. Within the Kura-Kura Special Economic Zone, far from beach resorts, Indonesian policymakers have gathered to discuss how to build a knowledge-based economy for the nation's 288 million people.

Earlier this month, at a forum held at the Kura-Kura Bali Special Economic Zone, Brian Yuliarto, Indonesia's minister of higher education, science, and technology, pushed for stronger collaboration between Indonesia's universities, research institutions, and industry and China through Tsinghua University, a leading Chinese university, to accelerate innovation and deliver solutions relevant to public needs, according to Indonesian news agency Antara.

This is not a new direction for Indonesia. At another occasion, namely the sidelines of the Indonesia-China Education-Industry Collaboration Summit 2026 held in Jakarta in September, Stella Christie, Minister Yuliarto's deputy, told the Chinese media: "Indonesia must learn from China and shift its national development model from one reliant on natural resource exploitation to one driven by technological innovation and highly skilled labor. Indonesia and China share broad prospects for cooperation in this area."

The push for stronger education industry and tech collaboration comes from Indonesia's own long-standing economic reality. For decades, Indonesia has exported raw commodities including thermal coal, nickel and palm oil, while importing finished manufactured goods. This model delivered economic expansion, yet it did little to build up lasting domestic knowledge capacity. The urgency of this gap has grown amid sweeping shifts in the global economy, where technology has moved from a supporting function to become the core engine of national progress. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto once argued that mastering science and technology is key for any nation to achieve progress, which, in turn, requires high-quality human resources.

In Indonesia's search for partners to support this transition, China emerges as a natural reference point, having navigated a similar transformation over recent decades. China has built up a strong ecosystem of top universities and research institutions, the fruit of years of sustained investment in higher education, research facilities and practical links between academia and industry.

What makes the cooperation distinctive is more than just access to technology. China has embedded industry-academia-research integration into its development practice, rather than treating it merely as a catchphrase. Minister Yuliarto cited Tsinghua University's Southeast Asia Center in Bali, which served as a platform for academic exchanges, talent development, and cooperation between Tsinghua University and Indonesia and the Southeast Asia region. Deputy Minister Christie cited the partnership between the Jakarta State Polytechnic and Guangxi LiuGong Group: Chinese companies investing in Indonesia need skilled local workers, and Indonesian polytechnics need curriculum that leads to actual employment.

This alignment fits Indonesia's own priorities. It embodies a model of development cooperation that views talent, technology and production as interconnected parts of one system, instead of isolated sectors. 

From Indonesia's standpoint, as Minister Yuliarto put it, the aim is simple: to bring research results closer to practical needs and prepare the young generation with the knowledge and skills. China has four decades of hands-on experience scaling up this model - expertise Indonesia hopes to draw on.

The growing focus on science and innovation marks an interesting evolution in Indonesia-China ties. A decade ago, the bilateral partnership was widely associated with landmark infrastructure projects: the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, industrial parks, and nickel smelters. Those projects remain important; bilateral trade reached $167.4 billion in 2025, and China has been Indonesia's largest trading partner for 13 consecutive years.

Still, there is a clear distinction. Infrastructure projects can be constructed and handed over. Science and innovation collaboration works differently. It means opening research spaces, laboratories and innovation methodologies for Indonesian researchers to study and adapt. Over time, some sectors may even see healthy competition. China's readiness to engage in this kind of knowledge sharing points to a partnership built around joint capacity building, rather than one-sided advantages.

This collaboration carries broader implications. For Indonesia, it opens a pathway toward greater economic autonomy, one rooted in homegrown capabilities rather than borrowed or purchased technology. For China, it represents an opportunity to demonstrate how a major country can share development know-how with partners. Knowledge and skills nurtured through joint research, when they take root locally, can serve Indonesia for generations.

The author is the director of the Opinion Department of the Global Times. The article was first published in the Indonesian national daily newspaper Republika. wangwenwen@globaltimes.com.cn