The Chinese government will continue to increase the number of state-funded scholarships for Indonesians pursuing higher education in China, as the Asian giant seeks to strengthen ties and people-to-people relations with the archipelagic nation.

The Chinese government had opened applications for 197 full scholarships for Indonesians to study for a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, doctorate degree or undertake Mandarin language studies.

The amount shows a continued rise in the government’s fully-funded scholarships over the past few years, the biggest since 2016, which saw a jump to 187 scholarships from 15 slots the previous year.

As many as 12 study areas are available, including science, engineering, medicine, economics, law and the arts.