Fiji and China: Besties?
by Fergus Hanson – August 2010
In today’s Age, Dan Flitton reports statements from Fiji’s dictator Frank Bainimarama that he wants to ditch ties with Australia and New Zealand in favour of China. While China tried to make a big splash in Fiji right after the coup, promising to deliver over $US160 million in grants and soft loans, the reality has been a little different.
After the 2006 coup, China came in strong to pre-empt Fiji making a switch to diplomatically recognising Taiwan. It handed Bainimarama US$5 million in cash, leading him to bring control over Chinese aid under his own immediate office. But since then, China and Taiwan have agreed to an informal détente, ending their damaging diplomatic competition in the region for the time being. China also seems to have felt pressure not to be seen to be lavishing aid on a pariah government.
It has gone ahead with projects like the Nadarivatu hydro project, which had been previously scoped by the World Bank, but it has been slow to disperse the other aid promised. The Fiji Government might claim this is because of disagreements over use of local labour or some such excuse, but surely it would have been in Bainimarama’s interest to see infrastructure projects rolled out on a timely basis so he could at least demonstrate some benefits from his rule?
So is China the saviour that Fiji’s strongman has been looking for? The evidence suggests it isn’t. China has been slow to unroll its aid to Fiji and there are reports it has knocked back proposals to do more. A review Mary Fifita and I are undertaking of China’s aid pledges to the region in 2009 also suggests the flows to Fiji were minimal.
Frank’s just huffing and bluffing.
Soli Vakasama 
August 19, 2010 at 5:46 am
Baini, you can’t win dealing with them Chinese or Indians either.Major example is right here at home. How many Fijian villages has the Indo have contributed to for its upgrades-None? Although, Fijians gave these Indo free lands to start them off and leased land with unpaid leases, but have they ever donate any thing toward upgrading Fijian Villages?NO!
How about the local Chinese community, they setup their stores in Fijian Villages, marry Fijian women and also leased lands from Fijians. Have they contributed any money toward upgrading any Fijian Villages? NO!
If you can’t win with the people you have at home for the last 150 years,what’s wrong with you man?????????Is the message not get through? Is the communication channel blocked? or are you just too stupid?????
August 22, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Too much loud sounding nothings from this wannabe dictator who has no idea how to end what he started. His love affair with chinese and indians will soon come to an end, soon as they have bled his regime dry.
August 25, 2010 at 7:54 am
Hari, can you believe it? God loved him. The man is a nuisance to himself and everyone else that’s blind enough to follow him? Can’t he see what the local Indo are doing to him, look at John Sammy came by to help packed up his pokets with over 3/4 million Fijian dollars and quickly made his getaway back to New Zealand-that is just one example.
If you can’t learn from that kind of abuse, than god loves this donkey?
August 27, 2010 at 8:13 am
Sami have you guys read what the “Public Account Committe” said about the missing funds they found in the Ministry of Finance books- 5.4 million,there was $6.074 million chinese loan missing from the General ledgers and $1.109 million missing from the RFMF records. That’s folks is $13 million missing. Could it be that the Illegal Prime Minister has stock away this money in a swiss bank account, for a rainy day?
August 28, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Well, the fighting among the Ulukau’s has begun, first Bai didn’t like the way the High Court Chief registrar, was handling her job and she was eyeing some young buck, in her office-he send her back to camp. Than the Kailoma was send back to camp as well,cause he was acting like a smart dude. Yesterday Ketepoka Teleni was kicked in the A-s-s and also send packing-now whose next? Is it going to be the illegal President,the Illegal Minister of Home Affair or Illegal Attorney General? Wow major question mark-anyhow someone is sure to get the boot!
September 1, 2010 at 7:51 am
Bainisona is a bully, i new him from school and I’ve smarten him up a few times. He cannot stand his ground, once he knows that he’s going to get beat-up he’d either shut the fuck up or run. He does that all the time.Check out the way he runs the Government, if you argue with this a-s-s-o-l-e he’d make sure you’re out of there. If you kiss his a-s-s- all the time and prop him up as if he’s the smartest idiot in the draw? he’d go to bat for you all the time.
September 7, 2010 at 8:31 am
firca is taking over investigation of THE MISSING ONE MILLION FIJIAN DOLLAR? Bunch of useless blockheads.Make sure to talk to the Minister of finance; Governor Sa-tuna-da Reddy; Permanent Secretary of Finance-John-backdoor-Parasad. These ARE THE THREE(3) BLOCKHEADS responsible for getting the money from England to Fiji. Don’t look too far for the niu Bu, as the old fijian saying goes: E lutu na niu e lutu e VUNA!!
September 10, 2010 at 11:15 am
Hey,Bai don’t you think it might be to your advantages, to offer New Zealand Fiji Military Forces help, to clean up the damages caused by the Tremor in Christchurch and Wellington?. I’m sure they’ll probably say No! but it would looks good on your humanitarian resume. Why not offer some cash help as well? Tell Sa-tuna-Da Reddy and backdoor John Prasad to donate their 50% cut from the one million dollar robbery?
September 15, 2010 at 9:21 am
Ok guys whatever has happen to the Fiji Police investigation to the missing one million dollars? Has the cops been called-off by the Minister of Finance? Or was it Sa tuna-da reddy? or back-door john prasad? Who ever is responsible for calling off the Cops needs to be investigated and his bank accounts especially the Swiss Account be checked-out? Why did Ketepoka retired? Was the Ketepoka involved? No wonder he said that he’d like to pursue new avenue??? Sound darn suspicious to me!!!!
September 19, 2010 at 6:30 am
BREAKING NEWS…..
The Fiji Police Forces investigation to the Government Missing one Million Fiji Dollar, has been tracked right to the Government building. As the result of this extremely execcelent detective works,the
Prime Minister has asked the Acting Police Commissioner to abandone
the search and called-off his people? The acting Police Commissioner
refused to comply to the PM direction and was immediately replaced with the Prison commissioner, as the new Police Commissioner for Fiji.BREAKING NEWS…has learned that immediately after taking over his new position, the new Police Commissioner has terminated the search for the Missing One Million Dollar and has send back the Acting Police Commissioner to his old job, where rumor has it, that he will be expected to retire, since he is over 55 years old?