Chinese companies cater to Indonesia's need of infrastructure

Agribusinesses like Mazhongdu International and Hainan Baisha control enormous tracts of land. China Railway Construction wants to build a fast link between the capital, Jakarta, and the airport.

In July, Sinohydro announced that it is working with an Indonesian consortium to build the second-largest dam in the country. The Export-Import Bank of China is bankrolling the project.

When President Xi Jinping visited Indonesia in October 2013, he left behind signed deals for financing and investment from Chinese companies worth almost $33 billion, an Indonesian government official said at the time. In a sign of the growing links between the two countries, Xi was the first foreign leader to speak to Indonesian lawmakers in parliament.

Xi said he wants trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to hit $1 trillion by 2020, three times as much as in 2012. ASEAN's 10 members have a population of around 600 million, and a little less than half of those people are in Indonesia.

Xi said bilateral trade between China and Indonesia should hit $80 billion next year. It was more than $66 billion in 2013.

As the number of Chinese companies keeps growing, the investment has become more diversified and much larger.

"Many of the companies have built their facilities in Indonesia and some manufacturing companies have transferred Indonesia into a part of the industrial chain instead of just a foreign market," says Liu from the China Chamber of Commerce.