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Tonga being wooed by both China and Japan

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on May 28, 2006 1:25:30 AM

A great coup by the King when Tonga was finally accepted into the United Nations, it seems not a day goes by without one of the 1st Tier Nations (i.e the ones with the money they got selling you stuff you really don't need) trying to buy some vote on some stupid seat somewhere in the world.

Our Prime Minister's in Japan at the moment, and mostly no-one local has any idea why he's there except for some "Government function." Apparently, that's also just part of the story, as the Yahoo News article Japan makes UN pitch to Pacific Islands.

The summit includes leaders of 12 island states -- Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu -- in addition to New Zealand and Australia.

Japan is expected Saturday to announce a three-year aid plan which will be bigger than a previous package, which totalled more than 30 billion yen (268 million dollars) over three years.

The island nations hold 12 critical votes at the United Nations and are also being wooed by China.

Japan has made winning a seat on the UN Security Council, whose "Big Five" structure reflects the power dynamics at the end of World War II, a top goal of its foreign policy.

But Japan's bid has been strongly opposed by China, which is the only Asian nation with veto power on the Security Council and says Japan must do more to atone for its wartime aggression.

China, which is due to stop receiving Japanese loans in 2008, has recently turned into an aid donor to the region.

Wen Jiabao in April became the first sitting Chinese premier to visit the islands, stopping in Fiji, and promised three billion yuan (42 billion yen, 374 million dollars) in aid over three years.

The two-day Okinawa summit, the fourth of its kind, is aimed at boosting the developing nations' economic development and political and environmental security.

"During this summit, we are trying to create a new form of cooperation," Koizumi said during the opening ceremony.

Read the Full Article at Yahoo News.

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China's already working the rounds with integrating Tongan thinking into Chinese thinking, apart from all the complaints about Chinese owned business (oopes Tongan Chinese businesses.) China recently handed out a massive number of unrestricted scholarships. I have no idea what the quality of the scholarship programs are like but it is a major avenue for the local youth.

Those scholars will not provide any value for China until they've returned and spent a few years in the local workplace to earn their way up the hierarchies and someday get more senior roles. Definitely a very longterm objective by the Chinese government and I hope them well if they help our people out.

Nomoa.com

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Tonga being wooed by both China and Japan