Manufacturers eye new bases around the region

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations looks to benefit the most from a regional transfer of industry as China's soaring costs and the phasing-out of super-preferential policies push multinationals to relocate.

Business representatives from ASEAN said they are winning back foreign investors from China by leveraging their large pools of labor, robust domestic markets and utilizing a string of policy incentives.

"It's safe to say that China's monopoly on foreign direct investment is no longer there," said Arturo Cruz Dimaano, project director of the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions, a government agency of the Philippines.