Photo: - Public Demonstration Outside a Chinese-Managed Store, Buka Town, AROB (PNG Happenings Today

Prior to Papua New Guinea's (PNG) independence in 1975, the trade stores in Buka town, Bougainville were almost exclusively owned and operated by businessmen of Chinese descent. Prominent among these businesses were Wong Yu & Company and Wong Kui & Company, operated by what academic James Chin terms the 'old' Chinese, essentially the descendants of the first mainland Chinese emigrants to PNG who lived through the process of colonization and who tend to share some common traits - they are almost all Christians and use English as their first language [1].

When PNG became independent and the 'old' Chinese were given the choice of taking up either Australian or PNG citizenship, the bulk of them left for Australia, where many of them had invested their profits, principally in Brisbane and Sydney real estate developments. Their trade stores in Buka town were sold to individuals or groups based in Bougainville, such as Bougainville Enterprises Pty. Ltd. 

In the late 1990s, following the end of the Bougainville Crisis, 'new' Chinese private investors in the PNG retail sector became interested in basing their operations in Bougainville. An estimated 90 per cent of these Chinese investors originate from Fuqing, a coastal community in Fujian Province, China with a long history of trans-national migration [2]. 

These mainland Chinese investors have formed partnerships with Bougainvillean business people to establish wholesale-retail stores, fast-food outlets (kai bars), bakeries, and small trade-stores selling cheap Chinese-made consumer products such as electronic goods and clothes. Most of these stores are based in Buka and Buin, but resistance from local businessmen in central Bougainville has hampered their establishment in Arawa. 

These businesses may be operating illegally because such commercial activities are reserved for PNG nationals. To circumvent laws relating to foreign ownership of businesses, some Chinese businessmen have married Bougainvillean women who are the designated 'business owner' while the husband provides "business management'. The Bougainville Constitution states that a foreigner married to a Bougainvillean is regarded as a citizen of Bougainville. An alternative approach has been taken by a Chinese wholesale-retail business in Buka town that has sold shares in its company to the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and individual Bougainvillean investors. 

There are also accusations that mainland Chinese investors are involved in another illegal activity - money laundering. Satish Chand (2018) estimated that in 2017 the Autonomous Region Of Bougainville (AROB) needed an estimated K300 million budget to operate but would be K74 million short of that target [3]. Part of the proposed solution to bridging that shortfall is by increasing tax revenue collection, including from company tax on businesses operating within Bougainville and value added tax.  If there is any truth in the persistent rumours of Chinese-operated businesses in Bougainville under-declaring their income and sending their cash profits offshore, the AROB will struggle to collect the tax revenue it needs to operate effectively. 

While Bougainvillean employees of Chinese-operated businesses benefit from much-needed, though low-paid, employment, mainland Chinese dominance of the local economy provokes ill-will among some sectors of the general population.  This has resulted in several violent protests in Buka town during the past few years, with repeated demands for the expulsion from Bougainville of Chinese business operators. On 20/4/2018 the ABG-Chinese joint venture store in Buka town was the focus of protests and looting, leading to its extended closure. Some Chinese-operated businesses in Buka town have also been the target of armed robberies in which Chinese nationals were killed or badly wounded. Continued lack of action by the ABG to address local grievances against Chinese-operated businesses seems likely to fuel further social unrest. 

1. James Chin (2008). "Contemporary Chinese Community in Papua- New Guinea: Old Money Versus New Migrants", Chinese Southern Diaspora Studies, Vol.2. pp.117-126.

2. Graeme Smith (2013) "Beijing's Orphans? New Chinese Investors in Papua New Guinea". Pacific Affairs, Vol. 86, No. 2, Special Issue: Global Perspectives on Chinese Investment, pp. 327-349.

3. Satish Chand (2018). "Financing for Fiscal Autonomy: Fiscal Self-Reliance in Bougainville". PNGRI Research Report No.3. August 2018.