Asian companies will tap into three Southeast Asian markets, including Vietnam, for growth in the coming decade, according to a survey conducted in May by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the analytical department of The Economist.

The EIU survey polled 525 business leaders working in the energy, processing-fabrication and technology sectors in seven major markets in Asia.

The survey, released last week, showed that in the next five years, the companies will focus heavily on China, India and Malaysia, along with other Asian markets including Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar, for the opening of new offices or new plants.

However, in the next five-year period after that, they will concentrate more on the markets of Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand.

About 71 percent of the respondents said they planned to open new plants or new offices in China in the next five years, but only 23 percent would do so five years after that.

Meanwhile, around 22 percent of the enterprises surveyed planned to expand in the next five years, but the rate rose to 42 percent five years later.

Similarly, firms intending to expand operations into Vietnam will increase from 30 percent in the next five years to 38 percent in 10 years, and this figure in Thailand will increase from 31 percent to 36 percent.

The rising labor cost in China is considered the main motivating factor for manufacturers to consider moving operations to countries in the Southeast Asian region.

Research shows that companies operating in the service sector also want to expand operations into the Greater Mekong sub-region covering Cambodia, Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Half of those operating in the financial and trade service industry said they want to open a new office in Myanmar in the coming decade.

Although interest in pouring money into China will decline in the five-year period right after the next five years, the influence of China on Asia cannot be denied, said the survey.

Companies in China will seek to exploit the increasing trade relations between China and other Asian countries, and 41 percent say that China has adopted new specific business strategies for each country in the region.

In addition, nearly one-fifth of the respondents said they would use the Chinese yuan to make payments for 20-50 percent of their trading bills in the next five years, just behind the use of the U.S. dollar.

According to the EIU, nascent markets in Asia such as Myanmar and Vietnam can now become the emerging market growth in the near future.

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