China, a leader of regional economies in North-East Asia, helps to integrate a single shipping market and affects diversely main ports in the region through affecting the flows of container transshipment, strategies of shipping companies for port calling and shipping networks. This study examines competition and cooperation among the hub ports in the region through studying examples of the three Chinese hub ports -Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tianjin- and concludes some implications of status change of hub ports in the region after scrutinising development process of the Chinese main hub ports and the historic interaction of port development among these ports. The characteristics of growth pattern of three ports are as follows. The port of Hong Kong constructs step by step the container facilities in accordance with demand growth and prefers stabilisation of operation and management through scale enlargement of port facilities. Even though demand grows continually, the port of Shanghai continued its defensive attitude towards facility expansion till the 1990s and has tried to get economies of scale in enlargement of port facilities. The port of Tianjin, similarly as the two other ports, expands serially its facilities and utilizes the capacity concentration and functional specialisation of facilities. The analysis of panel data and panel regression of three hub ports implicates that each port has its own specific demand and shows that the interaction of container handling among three ports was weak in 1980s and has become stricter and stronger since 1990.