It was written in the publications that to take advantage of opportunities from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the world’s biggest shoe processor, Pou Chen (Taiwan) has been gradually shifting its production bases to Vietnam since 2012.

Similarly, the textile industry also witnessed the landing of large textile corporations, including the competitor of Pou Chen in Taiwan, Feng Tay and the major manufacturers in the world such as Hanesbrands (US), Onewoo and Panko (Korea).

In fact, moving factories to Vietnam where there is cheap labour to wait for the opportunities given by the TPP is the way that many foreign companies are pursuing in order to use Vietnam as a springboard to enter major markets in the TPP.

Some experts are afraid that this phenomenon will affect profit from Vietnam’s key export commodities. Others felt Vietnam should have appropriate policies to ‘borrow’ this source of capital to develop the local economy along with strict commitments on technology transfer.

According to the Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade spokesperson, Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai the increase of foreign investment in this way benefited Vietnam so far. He said exports of the foreign-invested sector were a bright spot in the overall economic picture of Vietnam last year. The part of this sector in Vietnam’s total export revenue has increased in recent years, from US$34 billion (representing 49.4 per cent of total national exports) in 2010 to $110.59 billion (accounting for 68.2 per cent) in 2015.