July 18, 2012
By Tang Xiangyang

 
As more and more international business giants base their Asian operations in Beijing or Shanghai, companies from the mainland are choosing Hong Kong for their regional headquarters, according to a survey by the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Tsinghua University.

Of the 333 Chinese companies that were assessed, 251 have invested abroad. Only 26 companies already have Asia headquarters, but 12 of those offices are in Hong Kong, four are in Singapore and 10 are in other Asian cities.

Another 66 companies are planning to open Asian headquarters shortly, and 42 of these firms have picked Hong Kong as the location.

Ma Xufei (马旭飞), an assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said mainland companies’ were attracted to Hong Kong because of its close cultural and political links to the mainland.

 
This survey was sponsored by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council and the companies surveyed were chosen randomly from 69 cities in the eastern, central and western regions of China.

 
Links and sources
The Beijing News 调查显示：内地企业多青睐香港作为亚洲总部