China Takes Tonga & Micronesia Runway

Reality: A lot more nuance—and history—gets overlooked, or ignored

Back in 2008, the Chinese Government wired US27,844,2000 in what they said was “grant aid” to the Tongan Government, to help people recover from riots in Nuku’alofa two years earlier.

The money arrived at the Prime Minister’s Office, and then was transferred to a Hong Kong shell company controlled by Princess Royal Salote Mafile’o Pilolevu. It’s never been seen again.

It's forgotten now, along with the cash, while the media instead focuses on the Chinese “take-over” of Tonga and the South Pacific, without noticing either the history or the local players. 

Take Australia’s 60 Minutes’ huff this month: “China is in every aspect of life” in Tonga, yet not a word on King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV (1918-2006), who got the Chinese into the kingdom, and daughter Salote Pilolevu Tuita, 73, who scooped millions from Beijing.

Then there’s Woleai, a 4.5 square kilometre atoll in the Federated State of Micronesia’s (FSM) Yap State—US press is twitching about a new Chinese built airstrip, but flip the calendar back a century and you’ll see this circus has been in town before.

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The Saipan based Marianas Variety provided straightforward coverage of FSM President Wesley Simina breaking ground for the reconstruction of Woleai’s airport runway:

US aircraft from USS Lexington, Enterprise and Bunker Hill bombing Woleai runway. Photo San Diego Air and Space Museum.