VietNamNet Bridge – The Chinese authorities have taken a lot of enigmatic moves recently, thus leading to the stagnation of the cross-border trade.

Senior economist Pham Chi Lan.

The bank accounts of some Vietnamese businessmen who have business relations with Chinese businessmen in Dongxing City have been unexpectedly blocked, according to VnExpress.

A lot of Vietnamese people, who worked in China under the labor contracts signed with Chinese employers, have complained that the money they earned in China has been confiscated at the border gates.

A series of abnormal phenomenas have occurred since mid-2012 in the Mong Cai border gate area in Quang Ninh province. Vietnamese exporters cannot go through the border gate because the Chinese authorities have reinforced the verification over the goods from Vietnam. Even raw materials and frozen seafood products, which were always in high demand, could not be exported.

Nguyen Tien Dung, Deputy Chair of the Mong Cai City People’s Committee, has confirmed that some abnormal things have occurred recently.

Being the biggest border city in the north, Mong Cai has 400 enterprises which have regularly business activities with Chinese across the border. About 450 containers of goods are exported to China every day and 1600 boats carry goods to China, mostly on Ka Long River and Luc Lam habor.

The cross-border import-export turnover in 2005-2011 reached 23,866 million dollars which had been increasing steadily since early 2012. In the first seven months of the year, the import-export turnover in the city was 2,607,641 million dollars, just equal to 78.9 percent of that of the same period of the last year.

There have been no official figures for August 2012, but observers believe that the export volume was much lower than the months before. The main export items were farm, forestry and seafood produce, cassava starch and tobacco. Meanwhile, minerals, the export items Chinese once most preferred, have been left unsold. China has suddenly stopped buying from Vietnam, both through official or cross-border channels.

According to the Mong Cai City’s Customs Agency, by August 9, 3860 containers had been still waiting for being exported.

Nguyen Van Tinh, a local official, said the goods deadlock occurred some times in the past, but all the exporters then could go through, sooner or later. Meanwhile, a lot of consignments have been stuck there for the last many years, while no one knows when the consignments can be cleared.

Vietnamese businessmen have learned that Chinese authorities have set up a lot of armed inspection stations along the border line for the last month. The bank accounts of some businessmen have been blocked by the Chinese authorities, while Vietnamese workers cannot bring the money they earn from legal works in China to Vietnam.

Some sources have said that China has been strengthening the control in the border areas as a security measure taken on the threshold of the Chinese communist party congress. The campaign is expected to end on August 31. However, observers have warned that it is still unclear if China would open the border gate or continue closing the gate after the congress.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has gathered urgent meetings with local trade departments and the Mong Cai City’s people’s committee to discuss the measures to clear the deadlock. However, to date, no reasonable solution has been found.

Meanwhile, speaking on Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon, Pham Chi Lan, a well-known economist, urged the Ministry of Industry and Trade to work out with Chinese competent agencies to find out the reasons. Vietnamese businessmen need to be informed with necessary information to set up their business plans.

Compiled by C. V