Kuala Lumpur (VNA) - China is no longer the biggestinvestor in Malaysia as it has now slipped to third position behind the UnitedStates and Japan, according to data provided by the Malaysian InvestmentDevelopment Authority (MIDA).

Chinese investments in Malaysia halved to 1.7 billion USDbetween January and September as compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, US investments in the country soared seven times to 5.9 billion USD,reflecting a diversion of funds due to the Beijing-Washington trade clashes.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) from Japan, with whom Malaysian Prime MinisterMahathir Mohamad is trying to strengthen ties, jumped more than four times to11.81 billion ringgit (2.83 billion USD) in the January-September period.

MIDA said total approved FDI into Malaysia rose 6.5 percent to 66.3 billionringgit. The agency is “actively negotiating” on 682 other projects withproposed investments of 37.6 billion ringgit, it added.

Trade tensions between the world’s biggest two economies have pushed mostly UScompanies to look for factories outside China to escape tit-for-tat tariffs.

For Malaysia, the biggest investments have come to the electrical andelectronics industry, with one of the driving factors being that manysemiconductor and other electronics products from the country do not attract UStariffs, unlike the 25 percent rate for China.

U.S. companies such as chipmaker Micron Technology and iPhone supplier JabilInc are already building new factories in Malaysia./.