A significant Chinese presence in

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

is relatively recent. There were approximately three or four thousand

Chinese people The Chinese people or simply Chinese, are people or ethnic groups identified with China, usually through ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, or other affiliation. Chinese people are known as Zhongguoren () or as Huaren () by speakers of s ...

living in Tonga in 2001, thus comprising 3 or 4% of the total Tongan population. This figure includes Tongan citizens of Chinese ethnicity, and marks a sharp increase from the 1996 census, which recorded only 55 persons on Chinese ethnicity living in Tonga. Chinese in Tonga and Chinese Tongans are Tonga's main ethnic minority group, and have been subjected to significant levels of racism, including racist violence, in recent years. In the 1990s, the Tongan government controversially sold Tongan passports to Chinese nationals and residents of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, enabling them to settle in Tonga and leading to the appearance of a visible Chinese community in the South Pacific kingdom."Flight chartered to evacuate Chinese in Tonga"
, ABC News, November 22, 2006 In 1999, the Tonga Chinese Association reported around 40 cases of harassment of Chinese businessmen, including several assaults, and Tonga's then-Crown Prince Tupoutoa condemned what he called "the racially motivated and cowardly violence which young jobless and, dare I say it, hopeless Tongans, visited on our Chinese-owned shops

n 1999 N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...

an act of such barbarity that it shamed and disgusted me and every other Tongan of my generation". In 2000, local authorities in

Nukunuku Nukunuku is a Administrative divisions of Tonga, district of Tongatapu division, Tonga. References

Tongatapu {{Tonga-geo-stub ...

banned all Chinese shops from the district."No More Chinese!"
, Tongatapu.net, 2000 In 2001, there were about 100 reported cases of racial assault against Chinese by indigenous Tongans, including the destruction of Chinese owned shops. The violence was thought to have been fuelled in part by resentment against Chinese shop-keepers due to high levels of unemployment among indigenous Tongans. Tongan Prime Minister Prince Ulakalala Lavaka Ata responded to the violence by announcing that 600 Chinese residents would not have their work permits renewed, and would have to leave the country. This policy contradicted King Taufaahau Tupou IV's publicly expressed wish to see more Chinese immigrants settle in Tonga. In 2006, riots in the Tongan capital, Nukualofa, mainly targeted Chinese-owned businesses, leading to the emigration of several hundred Chinese.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chinese In Tonga

Chinese diaspora in Oceania

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

See also

References