Seoul (AsiaNews) - South Korea have overtaken Japan as the largest foreign investor in China. This is shown by the figures for the first quarter of 2015, published by the Korean International Trade Association, which confirm the government estimates with $ 1.62 billion invested in the first three months of the year, Seoul is in fact the Beijing most important commercial partner.
In second place is Taiwan, with 1.29 billion dollars; the third Singapore with 1.23 billion. Japan, for a decade on top of the podium, is a close fourth with 1.06 billion. The ranking excludes Hong Kong, which in the parameters of international trade is now considered "an integral part" of mainland China.
According to Choi Yong-min, an analyst of the Association, Japanese investments "have declined because of the weaker yen. But this has not stopped Korean companies continuing to grow robustly and to look with increasing favor at the Chinese market. " In fact, the data seem to confirm this analysis. According to an internal survey, high-level South Korean companies are "willing to invest even more" in the Land of the Dragon.
The peninsula’s leading industrialists complain "a slowdown" in profits in the first quarter "due to the general slowdown of the Chinese economy and the increase of labor costs", but the automotive and petrochemical industries say they are "satisfied" with the results and "confident" for those of the second quarter.