Jakarta. ASEAN-China trade is on track to exceed $1 trillion this year, according to an Indonesian diplomat.

ASEAN’s export-import activities with China have been gaining speed over the past decades. In 2024, the group’s bilateral trade with China amounted to nearly 7 trillion yuan (approximately $989.9 billion), the Chinese customs data showed. The figures only reached approximately 870 billion yuan in 2004.

“ASEAN is China’s largest regional trading partner, with close to $1 trillion. Hopefully, trade will surpass $1 trillion by the end of the year,” Indonesian Ambassador to China Djauhari Oratmangun said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Djauhari’s statement came not long after ASEAN upgraded its trade accord with China. This new version of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area grants greater inclusivity for small enterprises, a major boon for Southeast Asia, as businesses of this size have been the backbone of its economy.

China remains one of Indonesia’s leading business partners amidst debt problems and staggering trade imbalances.

Beijing has largely driven Indonesia’s foreign direct investment inflows, even bankrolling major infrastructure projects such as the debt-laden $7.3 billion Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train. Both G20 economies are also part of the world’s largest trade accord: the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP). This mega deal eliminates up to 92 percent of the tariffs on goods traded between its members.

“We have upgraded our ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2013. I will never get tired of saying that we need to translate our partnership with China into concrete numbers," Djauhari said.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced Monday that Indonesia had been in the red with China as non-oil and gas deficits grew to $17.74 billion in January-October 2025. The trade imbalance stood at $10.10 billion in the same period of last year.

“China was our biggest source of imported goods over the said ten-month period,” Pudji Ismartini, a senior official at BPS, told a press briefing.

Indonesia had brought in non-oil and gas imports of Chinese origin worth a total of $70.19 billion so far as of October. Machinery and mechanical appliances made up a huge chunk of the imports, totaling $16.20 billion. Electrical machinery accounted for the next-largest share at $15.14 billion, followed by automotives at $3.94 billion.

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