Close trade ties see Chinese firms rev up expansion within ASEAN

While Chinese companies still have ambitious plans to expand their overseas business activity, structural changes are taking shape, including motives for outbound reaches and the diversification of companies and industries going abroad, said a report released by Singapore-based bank UOB.

Released for the seventh consecutive year, the latest report showed that 80 percent of the 380 surveyed Chinese companies plan to undertake overseas expansion plans in the next three years, with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations continuing to serve as the first destination of choice.