Vietnam to give 1.4 million landholdings to Chinese real estate investors

Vietnam has pledged to give Vietnamese owners of 1.5 million land-holdings in China a share of the 1.8 billion yuan ($26 billion) promised in the land-for-sale deal between Beijing and Vietnam.

The landholders will be given 1.25 million hectares of land and will be granted up to 50 percent of the value of their holdings.

A final land-sale price of 1 billion yuan is also being planned.

The deal comes as Vietnam and China are on opposite sides of the South China Sea dispute and are negotiating over claims in the South Chinese island chain.

Vietnam and Beijing signed a $20 billion trade deal in 2015 that included a $8 billion land-trade agreement and $5 billion in economic development loans for infrastructure projects.

The new deal, though, will be limited to Vietnamese owners who have at least 1 million hectares.

The Vietnam National Bureau of Statistics estimates that Vietnamese real estate is worth $7 billion.

About 6 percent of Vietnam’s gross domestic product is generated by real estate.

The government also says that over the next five years, Vietnamese owners will receive about $1.8 million per year.

Vietnam also pledged $1 billion in aid for Vietnamese farmers who lost crops due to climate change.

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang said Vietnam would give a 1.3 million hectare landholding in northern Laos to Chinese investors.