The new rail line will run through some of Vietnam's key manufacturing hubs, home to Samsung, Foxconn, Pegatron and other global giants, many of whom rely on a regular flow of components from China.

Vietnam's National Assembly on Tuesday approved a bold bureaucratic reform plan that will slash up to a fifth of government bodies, as the country tries to cut costs and improve administrative efficiency.

Vietnam will cut one in five public sector jobs and slash billions of dollars from government budgets, after the country's rubber-stamp parliament on Tuesday gave the go-ahead to a radical streamlining drive.