China invests $10.4 billion in Vietnam The Foreign Investment Agency (Ministry of Planning & Investment) recently released a report on Chinese investment in Vietnam. Accordingly, the country is the 9th largest investor in Vietnam.   The Cat Linh - Ha Dong urban railway project developed by Chinese contractors in Hanoi. By the end of March 2016, China (excluding Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau) had 1,346 valid projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of $10.4 billion. The average capital of Chinese projects was only $7.7 million, equal to half the average of the other investors in Vietnam. The Chinese investments are mainly focused in the field of processing industry, with 916 projects totaling $5.38 billion in registered capital, accounting for 52% of the total capital. The next field is production and distribution of electricity, gas, water, air conditioning with nearly 20% of the total investment. Chinese investment capital is primarily in the form of direct (100% owned) and BOT (build-operate-transfer), BT (built-transfer) and BTO (built-transfer-operate). China has invested in 54 provinces and cities of Vietnam but mainly in the localities with relatively favorable infrastructure or near the Vietnam - China border. Binh Thuan province takes the lead with $2 billion from Chinese investors, followed by Tay Ninh, Ha Giang, Lao Cai, and Binh Duong. Several major projects of Chinese investors include: The project to build the Vinh Tan 1 coal-fired power plant in the form of BOT at the cost of $2 billion in Binh Thuan; the $400 million Viet Luan Tire Plant in Tay Ninh; the Tan Cao Tham Rubber Processing Plant and the Vietnam-China Mining and Metallurgy Project in Lao Cai, with $337.5 million each; and the project to build a series of fibre factories in Quang Ninh worth billions of USD of the Texhong Group. In recent years, in the thirst for energy, raw materials, China has sharply increased investment abroad. Vietnam is an attractive destination because it has joined the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other Free Trade Area agreements (FTAs). Accordingly, investment from China rose sharply, mainly pouring into the processing industry, textile and fiber dyeing ... because they wanted to benefit from the wave of integration of Vietnam. It is forecasted that capital from China into Vietnam will rise in the coming time because China is not a member of the TPP. Meanwhile, by the end of 2015, Vietnam had only 15 investment projects in China with a total registered capital of over $16 million, mainly concentrated in the manufacturing sector and services. The biggest projects are the $3 million shopping mall project of the Viet Trang Export-Import Company and the $6 million scale manufacturing project of the Nhon Hoa Production and Trading Company. Son Tung, VNN