Taking a page from Beijing's economic playbook, Vietnam is luring makers of shoes, garments and computer chips with tax breaks, inexpensive land and cheaper labor. Factory wages average $50 to $60 a month -- half as much as in the manufacturing centers along China's coast. The incentives are so attractive that even Chinese companies are relocating. Soon Vietnam is expected to join the World Trade Organization -- as China did five years ago -- which would make it easier for foreign companies to do business in the country, a market of 84 million people.
See "Manufacturers Taking Flight -- to Vietnam", Don Lee, Los Angeles Times, August 17, 2006