HANOI - VIETNAM will deport 182 Chinese caught working illegally at a cement plant and fine six Chinese contractors for importing workers without permits for a controversial bauxite and aluminium project, a state newspaper said on Thursday.

The 182 illegal workers were discovered in the southern province of Dong Nai, adjacent to Ho Chi Minh City, after provincial authorities detected foreign worker numbers creeping up, a report in Tuoi Tre (Youth) said.

It did not say when they would be sent home.

The newspaper said Dong Nai had more than 7,000 foreign workers, 1,500 of whom are Chinese. Fewer than 3,000 foreign workers in Dong Nai had permits. Fewer than 1,000 were not required to have permits, it said.

The newspaper also said Lam Dong province, next to Dong Nai, planned to fine six Chinese contractors who were partners with the Chinese firm China Aluminium International Engineering Co (Chalieco), involved in the construction of an alumina plant in Tan Rai in the Central Highlands.

There are 570 Chinese workers on the Tan Rai project, the newspaper said. The contractors had made 250 applications for work permits for foreign workers with the local authorities.

Chalieco, a subsidiary of China's state-run aluminium firm Chinalco, has been awarded a contract to build a $460 million aluminium plant at the Tan Rai bauxite complex.

Tan Rai is one of two bauxite complexes the government is pursuing in the Central Highlands via Vietnam's top coal miner, state-run Vinacomin.

Many Vietnamese have become worried about an influx of Chinese products and workers in recent years, and there has been widespread criticism of China's involvement in the controversial Central Highlands bauxite mining and aluminium producing plans.

Some consider that region strategically important because it is near the narrow centre of Vietnam and three-way border intersection of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

Vietnamese are deeply suspicious of China after centuries of tense relations, wars and territorial skirmishes, despite the friendly rhetoric of the countries' leaders. -- REUTERS