by Michael Field
10 July 2011
Political and diplomatic sources in Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, Papua New Guinea and Fiji warn of the bubbling tensions.
New Zealand police and military restored order after riots in 2006 in Tonga and the Solomon Islands which had anti-Chinese elements in them.
``We can't rule out more riots that contains an anti-Chinese element,'' University of Auckland international relations lecturer Jian Yang says.
Tonga which will next week be visited by Foreign Minister Murray McCully is seen as straddling a Chinese-Polynesian fault-line.
Police there, supported by New Zealand Police, disrupted a Chinese syndicate's methamphetamine laboratory. Four China nationals and a Taiwanese citizen were arrested, along with a Tongan policeman.
Earlier, Chinese national Liu Lirong was convicted on human trafficking and prostitution charges linked to importing women from China.
Around 4000 Chinese live in Tonga, which has a population of 110,000.Prime Minister Lord Tu'ivakano, before he became premier, banned Chinese shops from his Nukunuku district.
This week Tonga's Ministry of Labour issued a statement aimed squarely at Chinese without naming them.It said the operation of businesses without valid licenses ``is a serious concern'' and called for people to expose small shopping operations so that government inspectors can ``subject (them) to the on-going inspectorate initiatives''.
The ministry said it wanted to ``create a level playing field for business to compete fairly and restore business integrity and confidence to do business in the kingdom''.
The actions are being replicated across the Pacific.
Last year when Mr McCully was in Kiribati, government officials pointed out big Chinese shops which were forcing locals out of business.
Earlier this year the Samoa Chamber of Commerce's Sina Retzlaff-Lima warned of anti-Chinese riots, saying it was not an issue of race but of the law.``
It's protecting our small micro and medium enterprises; it's protecting the opportunity for the local business person who is in the retail industry.''
The government newspaper Savali responded by saying that rather than hating Chinese, Samoans should learn their business skills.
``The Chinese are very good at living within their means, saving their money and reinvesting in their business,'' Savali said, ``important attributes we can all learn from.'' Dr Yang, whose book The Pacific Islands in China's Grand Strategy is to be published later this year, said the Pacific was not alone in experiencing growing numbers of Chinese migrants.
He said migrant Chinese tended to focus on retailing as they were small businesses that were easy to run, they had ready access to sources of supply in China and they could easily get advice and support from their family, relatives and friends.
``It is unfair to blame the Chinese immigrants for being hardworking and economically capable. They make good contributions to the South Pacific economies.''
He said their wealth attracted attention and caused problems.
``The new Chinese immigrants do need to show due respect to local cultures and laws and to give back to the society. Chinese government officials are also critical of some new Chinese immigrants' behaviours.
``However, they feel that they can't do much to address the problems,'' Dr Yang said.
Chinese tycoons have recently arrived on PNG's Bougainville island in a bid to take over the largest open cast mine in the world at Panguna.
It was closed in 1989 at the start of a decade-long bloody civil war which only ended with a New Zealand-brokered truce.
The copper and gold mine is still closed.
The Chinese group say they will build a NZ$620 million city on Bougainville.They tried to visit Panguna but according to the PNG Post Courier newspaper they were ``chased out'' by the rebel Me'ekamui Defence Force which demands an independent state.
``We did not fight for the Chinese to come over,'' Me'ekamui's Chris Uma told the newspaper. The incident took place near where the movie Mr Pip, starring Hugh Laurie and based on the Lloyd Jones novel, is being filmed.
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