Japanese business presence in China down nearly 30% from peak in 2012: survey - South China Morning Post

Ralph JenningsPublished: 3:00pm, 29 Sep 2026Updated: 5:21pm, 29 Sep 2026The number of Japanese companies operating in China has fallen nearly 30 per cent since its peak in 2012 and is down 22 per cent over the past two years, according to a survey conducted amid prolonged political tensions between Beijing and Tokyo.As of June, 10,118 Japanese enterprises were identified as having a presence in China, the lowest number since 2010, according to a survey and analysis released on Monday by the corporate credit research and business intelligence firm Teikoku Databank.

The research also turned up 1,221 new Japanese entrants in China since the last survey in 2024, less than the total during the depressed Covid-19 pandemic years between 2020 and 2022. It identified 4,137 companies that had withdrawn from China or could not be accounted for since the last survey.

The Tokyo-based firm drew its findings from a database of about 1.51 million companies, a credit investigation report file containing some 2 million companies and publicly available information.