Japanese direct investment in China decreased by 38.8 percent in 2014 from a year earlier to $4.33 billion (S$5.74 billion), according to statistics announced by China’s Ministry of Commerce.
This is the second consecutive yearly decline, AsiaOne reported Sunday.
New investment by Japanese firms in China was likely discouraged by political confrontation between the two nations, which has intensified since autumn 2012. However, the China side has been actively courting Japanese corporate investment in China, through measures including the Japan-China summit meeting in Nov 2014, in response to a sharp decline of 48.8 percent in the first half of 2014 from the same period in the year before.
Global direct investment in China increased by 1.7 percent in 2014 to $119.56 billion, up for the second consecutive year.
SoftBank Invests
Japan’s SoftBank has led a round of funding in the most popular taxi app in China, Kuaidi Dache.
The Financial Times reports that SoftBank led a $600 million investment in the Chinese company, which dominates the country’s taxi app market.
Kuaidi Dache has over 50% of the market in China, ahead of its rival Didi Dache.
Uber doesn’t have a stronghold in China yet. It only started operations in the country’s capital last year.
SoftBank makes a huge amount of investments in tech companies. In December it invested $250 million in GrabTaxi, Uber’s biggest rival in countries like Vietnam and Thailand. One of SoftBank’s most well-known investments is in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. SoftBank is the company’s largest investor.
