International students take pottery class in Hohhot, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on March 28, 2019. Photo:IC

The majority of expats in China plan to stay for the next 12 months, a survey showed on Tuesday, the highest proportion among expats in various countries in the survey.

In the Chinese mainland, 75 percent of respondents in the study indicate that they would stay within the next 12 months, and this proportion ranks among the highest across the nine markets surveyed which is on average of 61 percent, demonstrating that the market of Chinese mainland is attractive to international citizens, a report released by HSBC said.

HSBC's study found that with the recovery of global travel, over a third or 34 percent of respondents currently living abroad plan to either return home or move to another destination within the next 12 months, whilst almost two thirds or 61 percent plan to stay in their current host location.

However, among respondents based in the Chinese mainland, the proportion of 75 percent who plan to stay put in the next 12 months ranks among the highest across the nine markets surveyed.

"China's reopening has promoted international trade and business exchanges as well as the movements of international citizens, and our connections and communications with the world will become closer and more frequent, according to Jun Zhang, head of distribution of Wealth and Personal Banking at HSBC for China.

HSBC expects that demand for cross-border financial services and international asset allocation will be further stimulated, and professional and convenient international banking services will support the diversified demands of international businesses and individuals, further accelerating the international connectivity of businesses and people.

The report is contrary to a report from scmp.com, which said Zero-COVID strategy made China "less attractive" to foreign talent, citing Shanghai-based Jonathan Edwards, managing director at global recruitment company Antal, who said many foreigners in Shanghai have left in recent years.

HSBC's report indicates that many of the international citizens surveyed are overseas investors, and among this segment, earning more money appears to be a key objective. Three-quarters (78 percent) of those in this segment who have relocated to Chinese mainland or are planning to do so are interested in making a long-term investment in their new host location, which is about 10 percentage points higher than the same segment across all nine locations in the survey.

Moreover, 81 percent of overseas investors who have relocated to Chinese mainland, or are planning to do so, hope to learn about sustainable investment opportunities, and around the same percentage agree they would do more overseas investing if they received more professional guidance on how to do this.

HSBC said the research was conducted by Ipsos UK from May of 2022 to January of 2023, covering 7,177 interviews across nine host locations including Australia, Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, India, and Singapore.

China has recently declared a major and decisive victory in its response to COVID-19, and the country is steadily entering a new phase of COVID-19 prevention and control, which has been downgraded under the management of Class B infectious diseases.

Thanks to effective virus control and timely pro-growth policies, China's economy has quickly emerged from the epidemic-induced slump and consolidated its recovery momentum.

Global Times