Japanese investments declining in China; ASEAN money flows in

(JIJI PRESS)Japanese companies’ direct investments in China in 2015 decreased 25.2 percent from the year before, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said Wednesday.

Japanese direct investments fell for the third consecutive year in value on the back of the yen’s depreciation against other major currencies and rising labor costs in China.

Meanwhile, direct investments from the rest of the world increased 6.4 percent, with investments jumping 22.1 percent from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations area and rising 4.6 percent form the European Union, the ministry said.

Japanese manufacturers are now having difficulty exporting low-cost goods to Japan from their Chinese footholds because of rises in wages of local factory workers.

But a pundit pointed out that Japanese service businesses have steadily been expanding their investments in China, although their investment amount is still much smaller than manufacturers’.