Shanghai as a window into the next Asian investment cycle
From 20 to 22 September 2026, I represented ECOVIS Vietnam Law at AUSTRIA CONNECT China 2026 in Shanghai, following a kind invitation from Pingwen Hu and our colleagues at ECOVIS Ruide Shanghai. It gave me the opportunity to engage directly with executives and entrepreneurs from Austria, Germany, Switzerland and China.
Organised by ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA, Austria’s official foreign trade promotion organisation, AUSTRIA CONNECT is its flagship Sino-Austrian business event in China. The 2026 edition brought together around 200 business leaders and institutional representatives, including Austrian company heads, local representatives of Austrian companies and officials from Austria’s diplomatic missions in China.
Its theme, “Strategic Choices: Enhancing Your Competitive Edge in China”, captured an important change in Asian investment. The question facing international companies is no longer simply whether to manufacture in China. It is increasingly how different Asian markets should perform different functions within a company’s global operating architecture.
China’s 15th Five-Year Plan matters beyond China
The opening panel, “Mapping Out the Future: China’s 15th Five-Year Plan”, was hosted by Franz Roessler, Head of ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA Beijing. Among the panellists was Pingwen Hu, Managing Partner of ECOVIS Ruide Certified Public Accountants, alongside senior representatives of industry and the European business community in China.
The plan’s significance for foreign businesses extends well beyond domestic economic policy. The plan recommendations prioritise emerging industries such as new energy, new materials, aerospace and the low-altitude economy, and future industries including quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen and fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embodied intelligence and 6G. They also call for breakthroughs in semiconductors, industrial machinery, advanced materials and foundational software.
This points toward a China that competes increasingly through technology, industrial depth, scale and innovation rather than cost alone. For international manufacturers, that creates both opportunities and competitive pressure. Companies need to reconsider what China represents in their Asian strategy: a market, a manufacturing base, a supplier ecosystem, an innovation platform — or several of these at once.
Beyond the simplistic China+1 narrative
Vietnam is frequently discussed under the label “China+1”. The concept remains useful, but it can obscure the complexity of real investment decisions. For many European and multinational manufacturers, the strategic decision is not:
China or Vietnam?
A better question is:
Which functions should be located in China, which capabilities should be developed in Vietnam, and how should both operations fit within a wider Asian supply chain?
China may remain essential for the Chinese market, sophisticated supplier ecosystems and localised production. Vietnam may at the same time provide complementary manufacturing capacity, supply-chain diversification, access to ASEAN and an additional export platform. These strategies are not mutually exclusive. The legal side of this model is covered in our China+1 manufacturing legal and compliance FAQ.
The DACH–China–Vietnam connection
AUSTRIA CONNECT was particularly relevant for ECOVIS Vietnam because of the substantial presence of Austrian and wider German-speaking businesses in China. Many DACH industrial companies have spent decades building production facilities, supplier relationships and management capabilities in the Chinese market.
That accumulated Asian experience means that a future Vietnam investment may not begin in Vienna, Munich or Zurich. The decision may increasingly originate from existing Asian management structures in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore or elsewhere in the region.
This changes how advisers should approach foreign investment into Vietnam. A Vietnam market-entry decision cannot always be analysed in isolation: the investor’s China operations, supply chain, customers, tax structure, management resources and regional strategy may all shape the appropriate Vietnam structure. Our legal roadmap for German manufacturers relocating production from China to Vietnam sets out the steps involved.
Wanfeng: when the investor is Chinese, European and global at once
The Diamond Networking Night was hosted by Wanfeng Auto Holding Group at the Wanfeng Aviation Club. Wanfeng, a Chinese industrial group, acquired the Austrian aircraft manufacturer Diamond Aircraft in 2017. The evening itself illustrated how blurred the line between “Chinese” and “European” investors has become.
For Vietnam, this has practical consequences. A growing share of projects will come from groups that combine Chinese capital, European technology or brands, and regional management. For these investors, structuring choices are rarely neutral: which entity holds the Vietnam project, how technology is licensed into it, how products will be treated under rules of origin, and how customers and authorities will view the ownership chain.
These questions should be settled before the investment registration is filed, not after.
What this means for Vietnam
Vietnam’s opportunity is not simply to become a lower-cost substitute for another manufacturing jurisdiction. A more sustainable position is to become a specialised and reliable component of increasingly sophisticated regional operating models.
For investors, this makes pre-investment analysis more important. A manufacturing project must connect investment structure with location, industrial land, licensing, environmental requirements, construction, customs, taxation, workforce, supply chain and post-licensing execution. We applied this lens to one sector in Vietnam as a Second Manufacturing Platform for China’s Semiconductor Supply Chain, and site questions are covered in our site selection scorecard.
The question is therefore not merely “How do we establish a Vietnamese company?” It is:
What role should Vietnam perform in our Asian strategy, and what legal and operational architecture is required to make that role work?
The value of an international professional network
AUSTRIA CONNECT China 2026 also reinforced something less measurable but equally important: cross-border investment remains fundamentally dependent on trusted relationships.
For ECOVIS Vietnam Law, collaboration with colleagues such as Pingwen Hu and ECOVIS Ruide Shanghai helps us understand investors before their Vietnam project begins — their existing operations, strategic pressures and commercial context in another jurisdiction. That is where an international network creates practical value: it connects local execution capability with cross-border understanding.
I return from Shanghai with a clearer view of an emerging investment corridor linking DACH, China, Vietnam and ASEAN. For advisers working with foreign investors in Vietnam, understanding that corridor will matter more and more over the rest of this decade.
How ECOVIS Vietnam Law can assist
ECOVIS Vietnam Law advises foreign investors, including DACH and China-connected manufacturers, on Vietnam market entry and FDI structuring, investment licensing, industrial site due diligence, factory setup, corporate governance and post-licensing compliance. See our Vietnam FDI legal guide for German investors, or contact our team to discuss your project.
ECOVIS Vietnam Law Firm is a licensed Vietnamese law firm based in Ho Chi Minh City and a member of Ecovis International, a global network of around 19,000 people in more than 90 countries whose member firms also provide accounting, audit and tax services.
Cover photo: ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA.
This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax or accounting advice. Project-specific advice should be obtained before making an investment commitment.
Last reviewed: 1 October 2026 · Reviewer: Attorney Vu Manh Quynh, Managing Partner
