“Guangdong’s complete industrial ecosystem and first-class business environment have made Shein’s fast growth possible,” founder Chris Xu informed the gang on Feb. 24, at a discussion board hosted by the Guangdong provincial authorities. He boasted that Shein at present helps over 600,000 jobs within the Chinese language province, and pledged to speculate over 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) to fortify its native provide chain.
For years, Shein tried to current itself as a Singapore-based multinational to reassure regulators and buyers frightened about its ties to China. Consultants assume Xu’s transfer exhibits that Shein is attempting to reconcile with Beijing, because the Nanjing-founded agency eyes a Hong Kong IPO following failed makes an attempt to listing in New York and London.
“Given Shein’s setbacks in the U.S. and Europe in recent years, it appears to be strengthening its ties to China and repositioning itself in the global market,” says Qu Feng, an affiliate professor of economics at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological College.
But Shein was only one Chinese language agency that moved elements of the corporate, if not the entire enterprise outright, to Singapore over the previous decade. The group contains ByteDance-owned TikTok and AI startup Manus, as firms sought to distance themselves from China and get better entry to international capital.
Shein’s extra public embrace of its Chinese language ties is one instance of how this technique—dubbed “Singapore-washing” by observers—is beginning to come undone. Western governments nonetheless deal with Chinese language-founded firms as Chinese language, no matter the place they’re included, whereas Beijing expects these firms to point out better loyalty at residence.
Why companies moved to Singapore
Shein was based in 2008 in Nanjing, China, by Chinese language-American businessman Chris Xu. Finest identified for its fashionable attire bought at ultra-low costs, the corporate has develop into one of many world’s largest fast-fashion platforms, with a serious presence within the U.S. and European markets.
The corporate first began planning for a U.S. IPO in 2020, however shelved these plans in 2024 following scrutiny by each U.S. and Chinese language officers. Backup plans to listing in London additionally stalled, as U.Ok. regulators scrutinized its labor and sourcing practices.
Shein relocated its headquarters to Singapore in 2021. It was a part of a broader pattern that analysts deemed “Singapore-washing,” the place China-founded companies diluted their Chinese language identification by relocating half, or all, of their firms to the Southeast Asian city-state.
Shein, within the eyes of Xin Solar, a senior lecturer in Chinese language and East Asian enterprise at King’s School London, tried to “straddle two boats”—adopting a Western‑pleasant branding narrative whereas retaining its core provide chain deeply rooted in China. Chair Donald Tang tried to focus on the corporate’s “American values,” at the same time as Shein depends on almost 10,000 suppliers in China’s southern Guangdong province.
That method was a “political miscalculation,” Solar says. Beijing noticed that remark as disloyal, but it didn’t cease Western regulators from scrutinizing Shein’s enterprise.
Whereas shifting to Singapore could also be unpopular with Beijing officers, Solar notes the maneuver has recast the identification of companies like AI developer Manus.
“Manus moved everything to Singapore, in anticipation that the future market will be outside China and in the West”, Solar informed Fortune, including that the agency had shuttered virtually all its operations in China. “Singapore-washing is only credible and effective for companies which fully cut off their operational ties to China.”
Manus is a number one developer of agentic AI, or instruments that may robotically perform duties with restricted human enter. The corporate was born from a Chinese language startup, Butterfly Impact—but in 2025, the startup shifted to base its major working entity in Singapore.
Manus was efficiently acquired by Meta final December, in a deal valued between $2 billion and $3 billion. Quickly after, Meta mentioned that Manus would lower its ties with mainland China.
But Chinese language regulators are actually reviewing Meta’s acquisition for attainable export-control and nationwide safety violations, arguing that as Manus was based by Chinese language engineers and nonetheless has a Chinese language mother or father entity, it ought to stay underneath Chinese language jurisdiction.
TikTok supplies one other excessive‑profile case of the bounds of shifting to Singapore. ByteDance started constructing out TikTok’s worldwide headquarters in Singapore round 2020, investing billions of {dollars} within the metropolis‑state and basing key features reminiscent of regional administration, belief and security, and information operations there. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, a Singaporean citizen, repeatedly emphasised his nationality and the corporate’s Singapore base when testifying earlier than U.S. lawmakers.
But U.S. officers continued to see TikTok as managed by its Chinese language mother or father, ByteDance, resulting in a authorized battle over a regulation forcing ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations or face a nationwide ban. ByteDance ultimately agreed to arrange a brand new three way partnership that might home the platform’s U.S. person information and have duty for coaching the advice algorithm as a solution to fulfill the regulation’s necessities.
“Singapore‑washing has become less effective, as corporate backgrounds are far more transparent than before,” argues Le Xu, a lecturer on the Nationwide College of Singapore’s enterprise faculty. Western regulators are now not centered solely on the place an organization is legally headquartered, she provides, however more and more study “the entire vertical value chain—including ownership structure, supply chain, data flows, and operational control.”
Fortune reached out to Meta and Shein for additional remark.
Can Chinese language companies go international?
Consultants say that, regardless of regulatory hurdles, it’s nonetheless attainable for Chinese language companies to construct international companies, as evidenced by the recognition of platforms reminiscent of TikTok and finances e‑commerce app Temu. But Chinese language firms might want to navigate an more and more risky geopolitical setting, the place selections round funding, mergers, acquisitions and information governance are scrutinized by a nationwide safety lens.
“Chinese tech founders can no longer stay silent, as Beijing seems to be demanding public support from these companies,” says Kyle Chan, a fellow on the Brookings Establishment, an American assume tank. “Shein’s move suggests that it is safer in the long run to continue to play up its Chinese connections, despite the risks from Washington.”
And it’s not simply Chinese language strain that’s undermining the Singapore-washing technique. “It may also be a sign that Chinese-origin companies like Shein face too many barriers and risks from Washington to pursue a more neutral strategy,” he provides.
Some Chinese language AI founders are actually selecting to depart the area completely, setting themselves up as U.S.-based firms from the outset so as to preserve entry to U.S. enterprise funding and superior computer systems.
And if Chinese language-founded companies shall be seen as Chinese language—irrespective of the place they’re based mostly—then they’ll have to seek out alternative ways to go international, whether or not by formally splitting their home and worldwide divisions, or pursuing an inventory in a extra pleasant vacation spot, like Hong Kong.
