China’s largesse threatens future of Pacific nation
NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga — The days unfold at a leisurely pace in Tonga, a South Pacific archipelago with no traffic lights or fastfood chains, and where snuffling pigs roam dusty roads.
Yet even in this farflung island kingdom, there are signs a battle for power and influence is heating up among much larger nations — and Tonga may end up paying the price.
Government officials work in a shiny new office block that was an $11 million gift from China. Dozens of bureaucrats take allexpensespaid training trips to Beijing each year. And China has laid out millions of dollars to bring Tongan athletes and coaches to a training camp in China’s Sichuan province.
“The best facilities. The gym, the track, and a lot of equipment we don’t have here in Tonga,” said Tevita Fauonuku, the country’s head athletic coach.
China also offered lowinterest loans after prodemocracy rioters destroyed much of downtown Nuku’alofa in 2006, and analysts say those loans could prove Tonga’s undoing. The country of 106,000 people owes about $108 million to China’s ExportImport bank, equivalent to about 25% of GDP.
Teisina Fuko, a 69yearold former parliament member, suspects China finds his country’s location useful.
“I think Tonga is maybe a window to the Western side,” he said. “Because it’s easy to get here and look into New Zealand, Australia.” “It’s a steppingstone.” For decades, the South Pacific was considered the somewhat sleepy, backyard of Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Now, as China exerts increasing influence, Western allies are responding.
After Cyclone Gita destroyed Tonga’s historic Parliament House last year, the government first suggested China might like to pay to rebuild it. Then Australia and New Zealand stepped in and are now considering jointly funding the project.
Experts say the South Pacific could be important to China’s navy or coveted for its fisheries, seabed minerals and natural resources. China is also engaged in an ongoing effort to lure away the few remaining countries that recognize Taiwan instead of China — several of them Pacific island nations.
“It’s not entirely clear what China wants in the South Pacific,” said professor Rory Medcalf, the head of the National Security College at Australian National University. “It’s just clear that China is becoming very active and making its presence felt.”