Japan in China
Japanese corporations have increased their investments in China since the mid-2000s, far beyond those by their Korean counterparts.
The Beijing office of the Korea International Trade Association announced on April 13 that Japan’s direct investment in China reached US$52.9 billion between 2004 and 2013, while that of Korea remained at US$36.15 billion.
Korea had led Japan by a margin of approximately US$800 million in 2004 – US$6.25 billion vs. US$5.45 billion – but the former was overtaken the following year. In particular, Japan’s average annual investment in China was US$6.91 billion, about 240 percent of that of Korean companies at US$2.84 billion, during the three-year period starting from 2011.
Both of the countries are showing some qualitative differences, too. Korean corporations’ investment in the logistics and service industries was 10.8 percent of the total, whereas the ratio was as high as 26 percent for Japan. This implies that the latter is penetrating the great consumer market of China very successfully, while most Korean companies still regard China as a manufacturing base.