After Taiwanese investors, now Hong Kong investors in Vietnam have threatened to hold their expansion plans if authorities don’t take quick action in maintaining law and order against protesting workers against China. Businessman and lawmaker Felix Chung Kwok-pan has said that at least one investor has already taken steps in the direction. One Hong Kong businessman who has invested $300 million in Vietnam is holding his plans of injecting another $100 million for now.
About 3,000 Chinese nationals have already been evacuated from Vietnam, following deadly rioting sparked by anger over Chinese oil drilling in a disputed area of the South China Sea. The geographical tension erupted after China deputed a 1 billion dollars oil rig in a part of the South China Sea. It is the worst breakdown in ties between the two Communist neighbours since a short border war in 1979.
Many Hong Kong businesses started to open up factories in Vietnam owing to low wages in the countries. At present, a worker in Vietnam gets paid an average of $200 to $300 a month, compared to $600 to $700 dollars in China. Manufacturing and exports accounted for 75 per cent of Vietnam’s economy in 2012, up from 56 per cent in 2009. The bulk of this manufacturing was funded by foreign investment.
