Indonesia’s nickel rule changes are spooking Chinese investors

Chinese investors in Indonesia’s nickel industry recently sent a formal protest letter to President Prabowo Subianto. The message reflects their concerns over Indonesia’s political and economic direction, and the long-term trajectory of Chinese investment and Indonesia’s industrialisation programme will hinge on how Indonesia resolves them.The letter, submitted by the China-chamber-of-commerce-in-Indonesia" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="128331" data-entity-type="organization">China Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia (CCCI), complained about a series of government policies, including proposed royalty increases, stricter foreign exchange retention rules, sharp reductions in nickel-mining-quotas" class="entity-link entity-topic" data-entity-id="145609" data-entity-type="topic">nickel mining quotas and what investors described as increasingly indiscriminate law enforcement.Collectively, Chinese firms argued these measures had significantly increased operational costs and undermined investment certainty in Indonesia’s downstream nickel sectors.