amoy
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BBC News - Why are the Chinese interested in Tonga?
The government of Tonga in the South Pacific has recently accepted a large gift from China - a turbo-prop aircraft for the kingdom's new domestic airline. But the present has stirred up concerns about China's growing role in the archipelago once known as the Friendly Islands.
The government of Tonga in the South Pacific has recently accepted a large gift from China - a turbo-prop aircraft for the kingdom's new domestic airline. But the present has stirred up concerns about China's growing role in the archipelago once known as the Friendly Islands.
It's also stirred up concerns among some Tongans that Chinese aid - generous, visible and impressive as it's been in recent years - can be a mixed blessing. They describe urban roads laid without proper drainage so nearby houses get flooded when it rains, and grandiose public buildings, poorly adapted to a tropical, oceanic climate, that are costly to keep cool and maintain.
Cabinet minister Clive Edwards chose his words carefully. "Some of the buildings they've put up", he told me, "are a disappointment". I was sitting with him in his office in the Ministry of Justice. "Including this one?" I asked. He laughed, a deep Tongan guttural laugh.
On islands across the Pacific, you'll find very visible evidence of Chinese "big-project" aid: sports stadiums and parliament buildings, government offices, police stations.
It's their fish, potential mineral resources and votes in the UN that make these small Pacific nations of growing interest to Beijing.
In Tonga, China's visibility is all the greater because of the several thousand-strong Chinese minority. There is a degree of tension between the two communities. From Tongans you hear phrases like, "the Chinese are bad drivers" and "the Chinese are everywhere".
What is not in doubt, though, is the key role the Chinese play in the business sector, especially in the little family-run grocery stores, the Fale-Kaloas, as they're called.
The Tongan extended family runs on the principle, "to each according to his need, from each according to his capacity". But if you're a Tongan trying to run a Fale-Kaloa and a relative turns up to say his grandfather's died, there's going to be a feast and you're going to have to give me all the chicken in your shop, you're not going to last long.