GLOBAL capital flows are pivoting away from China in favour of other emerging Asian markets such as India and Vietnam, as investors seek alternatives with fewer economic and geopolitical risks, reports Tokyo's Nikkei Asia.

For the first time since 2017, foreign investment inflows into Asian emerging-market stocks excluding China over the past year topped the net buying of mainland China stocks via the Stock Connect programme.

Those totals were US$39 billion and $32 billion, respectively, according to data from Goldman Sachs.

This comes as investment funds specifically targeting non-China economies crop up at a record pace. "Foreign buying has picked up strongly in the region outside of China" over the past four months, wrote Sunil Koul, Asia-Pacific equity strategist at Goldman Sachs.

China's economy is in the midst of an unexpectedly slow recovery from the pandemic, hampered by a real estate slump and high youth unemployment. But sluggish growth is not the only problem.