How China helped build Indonesia's high-speed railway

Xi Jinping team agreed to transfer technology and hire local workers

Workers stand beside an Electric Multiple Unit high-speed train at the Tegalluar train depot in Bandung, West Java province, Indonesia, on Oct. 13. Service begins in six months. © Reuters

YANG MIN, WEN SIMIN, YING CHUYAN and BONNIE CAO, Caixin

December 16, 2022 11:56 JST

Everyone applauded when a silver-bodied high-speed train decorated with a flash of red last month rolled slowly out of Tegalluar station in Bandung, Indonesia's West Java province.

The spectators included Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo. It was Nov. 16, and they were witnessing the operational trial of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train, on the sidelines of a bilateral meeting following the G-20 Summit in Bali.