Encouraged by the Sino-US agreement on China's accession to the World Trade Organization ( WTO), Germany's chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer is considering moving its China headquarters from Hong Kong to Shanghai while establishing a 10-million-US-dollar technical service center in Shanghai.

M.W. Cheung, Bayer's chief representative in Shanghai, said " after entering the WTO, China will open wider and adopt international practices even further in areas like foreign exchange administration, foreign trade and tariff levels," Cheung said, adding this has enhanced Bayer's determination to promote long-term development in China.

China and the United States signed an agreement on market access related to China's entry into the WTO on November 15, thus removing what was believed to be the biggest obstacle to China's WTO membership.

Bayer, which has already established 13 subsidiaries in China, is not the only overseas investor busily preparing to surf an anticipated new trade and investment wave.

Sources from many of the 3,650 overseas-funded representative offices in Shanghai said they all have plans to expand business in China.

Taking into account both the Sino-US agreement and Japan's economic recovery, Issei Nakamura, director general of the Shanghai representative office of the Tokyo-based Japan-China Association on Economy and Trade, predicted that large numbers of Japanese investors will come to seek business opportunities in China during the second half of next year.

Japanese investment in China witnessed a high tide during the past two decades, Issei Nakamura said, but it was checked by the Asian financial crisis.

"We're preparing for another high tide," said Issei Nakamura, whose association handles inquiries from more than 1,800 Japanese enterprises annually about doing business with China.

Scott Sheppard, chief representative of the Queensland Trade and Investment Office, said that one of the major characteristics of the upcoming wave of overseas trade and investment in China will probably be the rushing in of small and medium-sized firms, which are usually more particular about the business environment.

China has significantly improved its business environment over the past years, Sheppard said, and its entry into the WTO will systematically guarantee a continuing improvement.

A booming state in Australia, Queensland has increased its presence in China over the past years, with its exports to this country rising 25 percent last year on a year-on-year basis.

Philip Murtaugh, General Motors chief representative in Shanghai, said that China's accession to the WTO will not only bring about exciting market opportunities but will also help raise GM's China operations closer to international standards.

GM has opened some 10 subsidiaries in China, including the Shanghai General Motors Corp. set up in 1997 by the Shanghai Automobile Industry Corporation and GM at a cost of 1.52 billion U. S. dollars.

Murtaugh said that GM took into account the possibility of China's entry into the WTO when it initiated its China operations years ago, and has therefore set the goal of maintaining its production and services in this country at international standards to brace for possible competition from other automakers.

Recently, Murtaugh said, GM has been improving its Buick car service centers in major Chinese cities while stepping up development of new models.

"China is our most important market and we have full confidence of maintaining our competitiveness here," Murtaugh added. (Xinhua)