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China's Largesse in Tonga Threatens Future of Pacific Nation

Associated Press

   NUKU'ALOFA, TONGA - The days unfold at a leisurely pace in Tonga, a
   South Pacific archipelago with no traffic lights or fast-food chains.
   Snuffling pigs roam dusty roads that wind through villages dotted with
   churches.

   Yet even in this far-flung island kingdom there are signs that a battle
   for power and influence is heating up among much larger nations - and
   Tonga may end up paying the price.

   In the capital, Nuku'alofa, government officials work in a shiny new
   office block - an $11 million gift from China that is rivaled in
   grandeur only by China's imposing new embassy complex.

   Dozens of Tongan bureaucrats take all-expenses-paid training trips to
   Beijing each year, and China has laid out millions of dollars to bring
   107 Tongan athletes and coaches to a training camp in China's Sichuan
   province ahead of this month's Pacific Games in Samoa.

   "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. "The accommodation: lovely, beautiful. And the meals.
   Not only that, but China gave each and everyone some money. A per
   diem."

   China also offered low-interest loans after pro-democracy 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
   some $108 million to China's Export-Import bank, equivalent to about
   25% of GDP.

   The U.S. ambassador to Australia, Arthur Culvahouse Jr., calls China's
   lending in the Pacific "payday loan diplomacy."

   "The money looks attractive and easy upfront, but you better read the
   fine print," he said.

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