Hongqiao Outlines Support for Companies Expanding Overseas

Shanghai's Hongqiao business district signed new agreements on Friday to further support companies expanding overseas.

They include plans for a platform serving private businesses and cooperation with neighboring Suzhou in Jiangsu Province and Jiaxing in Zhejiang Province on overseas business services.

The agreements were announced at the Sub-Forum on Building Hongqiao International Opening-up Hub & HUB Conference 2026. The event was part of the 9th Hongqiao International Economic Forum, held during the ongoing 9th China International Import Expo.

Hongqiao aims to become a first stop for Yangtze River Delta region companies seeking help with overseas expansion. The business district surrounds a major transport hub in western Shanghai.

The planned platform would focus on overseas risk prevention and helping privately owned Chinese companies prepare to operate abroad.

Alan Chen, vice chairman of KPMG China, said the tax, audit and advisory firm uses Hongqiao as a base to advise Chinese businesses expanding overseas and international companies entering China.

The work begins before a company opens in a new market. It includes reviewing legal requirements, planning the business structure and assessing risks.

Foreign companies also described work beyond selling products in China.

Gordon Naylor, CSL chief executive, outlined a change in the Australian biotechnology company's approach.

Alongside bringing international innovation into China, CSL is seeking to work with Chinese innovators and help their work reach overseas markets, he said.

Jiang Xiaojuan, a professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said companies in fields such as artificial intelligence and biopharmaceuticals should consider global markets from the start of product development.

She advocated cooperation between research teams in China and abroad, rather than developing a domestic product first and adapting it later. Data, tax and employment rules also need to be considered throughout a company's operations, Jiang added.

For Wu Songhua, overseas projects involve detailed questions about how Chinese cultural material can be used and presented.

Wu is the founder and chairman of a cultural technology group based in Hongqiao. His company is developing a digital collection that includes traditional Chinese architecture and decorative patterns.

Recreating a wooden pagoda, he explained, can require detailed digital versions of individual timber components and their painted surfaces.

Using that material overseas brings further questions about intellectual property licensing, data rules and cultural expectations. His work also involves employees traveling abroad and overseas staff coming to Shanghai.

Wu said access to legal, tax and staffing advice was among his reasons for settling in Hongqiao. Advisers in business district can help flag potential problems before a project goes abroad, he added.

His team would then hire an expert in the destination market to review whether the cultural content was appropriate for local audiences.