by David Brooks

WELLINGTON - Recent attacks on Chinese shopkeepers in Papua New Guinea are the latest instance of Chinese-owned businesses becoming a target amid social unrest in the Pacific Islands, analysts say.

The anti-Chinese violence in PNG was sparked by a protest march last week in the capital Port Moresby, where demonstrators complained about the number of Asians, especially Chinese, moving into business.

The attacks have spread to other towns in violence which has killed at least two people.

Similar resentment surfaced in attacks on Chinese-owned businesses in riots in the Solomon Islands' capital Honiara in April 2006 and in the Tongan capital Nuku'alofa in November the same year.

Chinese migrants first settled the Pacific Islands in the 19th century but an influx of new migrants - some illegal - since the 1980s has seen them become the focus of political unrest.

Graham Hassall, professor of governance at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, said illegal immigration and alleged bribery of immigration officials had helped fuel suspicion.

'There might be questions about their visa status, or there might be questions about whether they paid a bribe to get a permit for work or permanent residence,' he said.

'There is also a cultural divide. Some of the Chinese businesses that get hit are those that don't adapt culturally to the Pacific.'

Stories of harsh treatment of local workers by some traders is resented by local people and poor locals feel excluded from their own society by the influx of relatively well-off traders.

'There is a feeling of anxiety and frustration, a feeling of being left out and being ignored by a government working in total isolation of its people,' PNG opposition leader Mekere Morauta said this week.

'The government is allowing unskilled foreigners who cannot even speak one word of English taking on the forms of business that only Papua New Guineans should be allowed to own and operate.'

Burning and looting erupted in Honiara in April 2006 when the unpopular Snyder Rini was elected as prime minister by legislators and Chinese businesses quickly became the focus of rioters.

Stone-throwing protesters marched from parliament to the Chinatown district, looting and burning most of the Chinese-owned businesses there and elsewhere in the impoverished capital.

Prominent local Chinese businessmen were accused of giving money to Rini, which he allegedly used to bribe legislators for support.

In Tonga later that year, a political rally calling for democratic reform turned into a riot where Chinese-owned businesses as well as those linked to the royal family were targeted for looting and burning.

Much of the central business district was reduced to rubble and eight people died in the riot, which led to allegations some local business figures had used the unrest to settle scores against Chinese rivals.

Hassall said most of the targeting of Chinese shop keepers is related to economic opportunism rather than racial tension.

'People in those towns walk past these shops, see things they want and can't afford and when a moment of instability arises, that's their chance.'

'It doesn't mean it's an anti-Chinese sentiment, its just a manifestation of urban poverty.'

He said it was important to remember that people of Chinese origins whose families had a long history in the Pacific have often become prominent not only in business but also in politics and other professions.

They include former PNG prime minister Sir Julius Chan and the president of Kiribati, Anote Tong.

Ron Crocombe, emeritus professor at the University of the South Pacific, said that growing economic and political links between China and the Pacific islands meant the Chinese presence in the region would only expand.

He said the region's engagement with China was part of an increasing focus on Asia and away from traditional partners such as the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.