Establishing a presence in China

Satellite office

XYZ Communications offers a satellite office programme from our Shanghai office. This low cost, minimum obligation programme is especially beneficial for SMEs to develop the market in China.

The key features of this programme are:

  • An office address in Shanghai
  • Reception service
  • Recruitment assistance for market development staff
  • Payroll and HR management
  • Bookkeeping and financial statements compliant with Chinese, international and corporate standards
  • Use of the meeting facility

XYZ Communications' satellite office programme helps you establish an initial presence in China. This can easily be transferred to an independent registered entity at a later stage. Recent examples include:

  • Establishment of a satellite office leading to registration of a trading company in China for an international IT company.
  • Provison of a satellit office faility and HR management of three after-sales engineers and two sales managers in China on behalf of a medical company.

Setting up a presence in China

There are three main types of business entity that allow foreign companies to establish a presence in China. These are:

  • Representative Office (RO) – an independent legal entity in China. A nominated Chief Representative is required a part of the registration process, and will become the Legal Representative in China for your company. An RO is liable to business tax based on its expenditure in China.
  • Joint Venture - In China, most joint ventures are equity joint ventures (EJVs), though some investors establish cooperative (or contractual) joint ventures (CJVs).
  • Wholly-Owned Foreign Enterprise (WOFE) - The unique feature of a WOFE is that involvement of a mainland Chinese investor is not required, unlike most other investment vehicles. They do not automatically have the right to distribute their products in mainland China though a recent variant, (the Foreign Invested Commercial Enterprise FICE), has the ability to do so.

XYZ Communications is able to advise clients on the advantages and disadvantages of each model in terms of set-up cost, restrictions on business practice, management risk and tax.

Email us or call +44 (0)29 21 25 11 88 to discuss your requirements.