Fuzhou (ANTARA) - On the outskirts of an industrial town in Central\nJava Province, Chinese-made spinning machines hum on the factory floor,\nwhere Indonesian workers sort fabrics.<\/p>\n
In the Kendal Special Economic Zone (SEZ), on the western side of the\ncity, more than 200 local workers are pouring concrete at another\nconstruction site alongside engineers from Fujian Province, located over\n3,000 kilometres to the north.<\/p>\n
Two companies, Honggang Textile and Hongsheng Materials, are the\nlatest examples of an ambitious experiment in cross-border\nmanufacturing: the China-Indonesia \u2018Two Countries, Twin Parks\u2019 (TCTP)\ninitiative, which is now moving at full speed.<\/p>\n
This momentum is no coincidence. In 2023, supported by policies from\nthe \u2018Two Countries, Twin Parks\u2019 initiative, Fujian Honggang Textile\nTechnology, a subsidiary of Huagang Group, sent a team to explore\nopportunities in Indonesia and found that the country\u2019s level of\neconomic development and consumption power aligned perfectly with the\ncompany\u2019s product positioning.<\/p>\n
By the end of that year, the company had purchased land in Semarang,\nand by August 2025, the factory began production.<\/p>\n
A number of companies have travelled great distances across mountains\nand seas from Fuqing, Fujian Province in southeastern China, to Java,\nplanting roots and beginning to see results.<\/p>\n
The companies\u2019 localisation strategy began even before their\nfactories had walls.<\/p>\n
While the factory was still in the construction phase, Honggang\nrecruited students from Indonesian universities and brought them to\nChina for training, subsequently sending them back to run the company\u2019s\noperations in Indonesia as the backbone of management, serving as a\nhuman bridge between the two nations.<\/p>\n
For the company, the production base in Indonesia provides benefits\nbeyond mere production diversification. The base also helps Honggang\nretain orders that were threatened by trade frictions and, equally\nimportantly, creates a two-way value stream: Chinese research and\ndevelopment on one side and Indonesian manufacturing capacity on the\nother, which mutually reinforce each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe provide a halal canteen as a form of respect to our Muslim\nemployees,\u201d said Zhang Qifang, the company\u2019s external affairs manager,\nas reported by Xinhua.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll our systems and operational manuals are available in two\nlanguages, Mandarin and Indonesian, and staff from both sides attend\nMandarin and Indonesian language classes side-by-side.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Zhang, the ultimate goal is to achieve fully localised\noperations, with employees from both countries increasingly accepting\none another through daily interaction.<\/p>\n
At the Hongsheng Materials project site in the Kendal SEZ, respect\ngoes both ways. When the company began construction in 2025, its team\nsought advice from elders in the local Chinese community and learned\nthat in Indonesia, traditional batik cloth is considered more formal\nthan Western-style suits. Now, during various important events, the\ncompany\u2019s staff from China attend wearing batik.<\/p>\n
\u201cRespecting local customs is the starting point for serving the local\nmarket better,\u201d said Tang Ling, Director of Administration and Human\nResources at Fujian Hongsheng Material Technology Co.<\/p>\n
Behind the willingness of these companies to expand abroad and\ninvest, there is a platform supporting their steps. The Yuanhong\nInvestment Zone in Fuqing, established in 1992 as China\u2019s first\ndevelopment zone built with investment from overseas Chinese, was\ndesignated by China\u2019s State Council in 2023 as a pilot area for\nChina-Indonesia economic and trade innovation development, elevating its\nmission from a conventional industrial area to a showcase for bilateral\ntrade and innovation cooperation.<\/p>\n
From land contracts to rows of modern factory buildings, from\nIndonesian students to transnational management teams, from a piece of\nbatik cloth to dining tables with halal offerings, the vision of \u2018Two\nCountries, Twin Parks\u2019 is slowly transforming from a blueprint into\nreality, built step by step and realised through action after\naction.<\/p>\n
It appears that the mountains and seas do not separate the two\ncountries as much as once thought.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/from-fujian-to-kendal-new-traces-of-the-textile-industry-in-java-1790733768", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }