Vietnam in the first two months of this year has seen an increasing foreign direct investment from China.
A total of 721.7 million dollars of Chinese FDI was recorded in Vietnam in the two-month period, up 152.78 per cent year-on-year, accounting for 21 per cent of the country’s total FDI. China has become the second largest FDI contributor to Vietnam, after Singapore.

There is a clear trend of transferring Chinese capital into southeast Asian countries including Vietnam. In other southeast Asian nations such as the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand, Chinese investors are also pouring money in giant projects.

Chinese companies’ investment in Vietnam in January accounted for 22 per cent out of the country’s total foreign direct investment in the month.

This placed China in the third position among foreign investors in Vietnam in January, just behind Singapore and South Korea.

By the end of 2016, China’s total FDI in Vietnam placed China in the eighth spot among foreign investors in Vietnam compared to the thirteenth spot China was in in 2012.

Most Chinese-invested projects in Vietnam are concentrated in areas which have cheap labor but face a high risk of pollution such as garment and textiles, hydropower, steel production, chemicals and cement.