Barclays Global Investor—iShares' parent company—is opening a Beijing office, expanding iShares' presence in the Chinese market, Liz Mak of Asian Investor reports.

Larry Lee, former head of China at Fitch Ratings, will be the firm's new chief representative for China. Though iShares does not know how much of its exchange-traded funds' Asian assets under management are actually sourced from Chinese clients, it recognizes that it has a strong following among institutional and qualified domestic institutional investors in China, Mak said.

Though the firm did not disclose any specific strategies it is working on, it said it hopes to increase its presence in the growing Chinese ETF market. But it remains aware that, despite the government's plans to introduce international ETFs in the local market, Chinese regulators have an open preference for domestic firms to build market presence before it will allow foreigners to take a bite.

You can read the full Asian Investor article here.