Flew recently on China Airlines new(ish) A321neo business class from TPE-CGK. For a 5 hour flight this was perfectly serviceable but of course not up to the standard of the A350. CI runs the A321 several times a week to CGK leaving TPE at 8pm and getting into Jakarta just after midnight. The obvious advantage of this being that you can finish work in Taipei and be in Jakarta later that evening. The daily A350 service leaves TPE at 9am and gets into Jakarta around 1pm, so you lose half a day doing it that way, but you do get a better business class product.

Seat
Full lie flat in a 2-2 configuration. Feels like a lot of space for a narrow body. You are quite close to the person next to you which is fine if you know them but probably no so much if you don't. Seats do go fully flat although not a lot of space for your feet especially if side-sleeping. I did manage to get around 2.5 hours in. Controls are located next to the arm rest and easy to accidentally activate if your elbow is resting on the armrest.




Catering
Ordered the lion's main mushroom steak (vegetarian) which was perfectly fine and came with the world's tiniest canape. My wife had pre-ordered some kind of spicy beef dish. No alcohol for pre-departure drink. Wine was served in the tiniest glasses and crew were not overly proactive in offering top ups. Would say the overall dining experience was lacking compared to a widebody but they don't have a lot of space to work with.


Non-veg canape

Spicy beef

Veg canape


Lion's mane mushroom steak

Wine menu seemed quite good although didn't try all of them:






Facilities:
Not too many. There's a dedicated bathroom for the 12 business class passengers at the front of the aircraft but it's very small. Crew tended to disappear into the front galley after the meal service and the bathroom was right next to that, so you had to go through the galley to get there and are greeted by them pretty much immediately as you come out which I found a bit awkward.

So in summary this business class product is pretty good for regional routes and sure beats EVA's recliner seat on their A321s. It's actually quite impressive that they can get this into such a small space and it not feel totally claustrophobic. However given that CI also flies a widebody on the TPE-CGK route, I'd only choose this again if I really need/want to get to Jakarta in the evening.