Vietnam riots 'will hurt investment from China'

Anti-China protests in Vietnam will deter Chinese investment and lead to local job losses. Many Chinese companies and traders have initiated contingency plans and stopped trade activities to safeguard employees and minimize financial losses.

Rioters attacked Vietnam's biggest steel plant overnight as violent anti-China protests spread and escalated in the country.

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Vietnam's Industry and Trade Minister Bui Quang Vinh told local newspaper Tien Phong that if the violence can't be contained, the country's economic development will be damaged because foreign companies will abandon ideas of investing in Vietnam.

Not only Chinese factories have been affected. Manufacturing facilities owned by Japanese, South Korean and European companies have also been damaged by mobs. They may also stop investing in Vietnam as they need a safer environment to carry out production, Bui was quoted as saying by the Vietnamese daily newspaper.

The newspaper quoted Tran Van Hang, chairman of the National Assembly's committee for external relations, as saying that the unstable situation in Vietnam has already caused concern among foreign investors and affected their production in the country.

"The government's top priority should be how to ensure healthy economic growth in 2014," said Hang.

Even though the Vietnamese economy has developed faster than neighboring Cambodia and Laos in recent years, the country still needs a large amount of investment and technical support from China to improve communication, power supply and transportation networks.