From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 1, March 2000.

A 14-member delegation from the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China visited Tonga from February 21-23.

During their three-day stay in Nuku’alofa, the delegation had an audience with King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV.

Mr Zhou Guangzhao, the leader of the delegation, and the Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, conveyed a message of good wishes from President Jiang Zemin to His Majesty.

Zhou also expressed an appreciation by his government of Tonga’s support of the People’s Republic’s one China policy with Taiwan. He also reminded the King of his government’s bilateral development co-operation policy, which he said was the same to all countries.

The King told the delegation that he had visited the People’s Republic of China twice and he was very impressed with the progress that China had made so far.
Zhou presented the king with a personal computer.

The biggest task facing the Tongan Red Cross Society is to try and revive itself as an organisation, after a four year lapse.

Mr Abbas Gullet, the head of Regional Delegation for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies was in Tonga from February 22-25 to assess the situation. He said he was impressed with the efforts that had been made, and said that the Tongan Red Cross would soon direct its efforts to its main mission, which was to improve the situation of the most vulnerable people in the society.

Takitoa Taumoepeau, the assistant secretary of the Tonga Red Cross, said that the Geneva headquarters of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies had warned that Tonga might lose its membership because of its failure to pay its annual dues four years in a row. As a result the Patron, HM Queen Halaevalu Mata’aho, had called for a new executive committee to revive the Tonga Red Cross.

Elected in December 1999, the new executive members were: Chairperson, Hon. Alaileula Tuku’aho; deputy chairpersons, Mrs Terry Connelly, Mrs Sue Macdonald, Mrs Honorine Smythe; secretary, Mrs Makeleta Fifita; assistant secretary, Takitoa Taumoepeau; treasurer, Robert Bolouri; assistant treasurer , ‘Iteni Helu; welfare officer, Valoa Fifita; medical advisors, Dr Sioeli T. Puloka, Dr Taniela Palu; committee members: Mrs Kathy Ilias, Mrs Novella Nied, Mrs Fusi Lavulo, Joe T. Tu’ipulotu and Hon. Malupo.

Kathy Sullivan, made her first and last visit to Tonga as the Australian Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, at the end of January.

Kathy resigned from her post after she visited Tonga, Samoa and Fiji. The highlight of her visit was the signing of a Youth Program Agreement between Australia and Tonga. She met the new Tongan Prime Minister, Prince ‘Ulukalala Lavaka Ata; the Minister of Labour, Commerce and Industries, Dr Masaso Paunga; and the Governor of the National Reserve Bank, Siosiua ‘Utoikamanu, and visited Vaiola Hospital in Nuku’alofa.

Kathy’s farewell tour of the Pacific drew to an end a political career of 26 years. She said that almost all her time in politics was with the opposition.

Viliami ‘Ofahengaue, otherwise known as the famous Australian Wallaby, Willy O, was in Tonga during January to participate in the Willy O Cup Tournament and to give his support to the development of Tongan rugby. Willy O’s team, the Felenite, fell apart toward the end of the tournament because a number of players had to leave in a hurry to meet job commitments. The winner of the 2000 Willy O Rugby Union Cup was the local team, Fasi-Ma‘ufanga.

Clare Hargrave, the first Vice President of the Oceania Judo Union, came to oversee the first International Judo tournament to be held in Tonga on March 4, hosted by the Nuku‘alofa Judo and Self Defence club, with visiting teams from Fiji and Samoa.

Clare, who earned a 6th Dan Black Belt judo in 1995, has been in Judo for 35 years, and is one of a handful of very highly-ranked women in the sport.

Clare ran her own club for 12 years at Titirangi, Auckland, New Zealand, and in 1981 became the first woman in the world to pass the qualification for International Judo Federation referees. Since then she has refereed in six World Championships as well as the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona­—­the first woman to do so, with Ms Wang Lling of China.

Clare met Tonga’s Lennie Niit at the Judo World Championships in Japan in 1995 and since then has been a supportive a friend of the Nuku‘alofa Judo and Self Defence Club. She praised Lennie for his untiring work in judo. “There is little that can prevent Tongan judo from developing into a significant leader in the Pacific Region,” she said.

Troy Stubbings, the Investment Manager of the Kula Fund Limited, Fiji, in early February, told government ministers and local business people in Tonga that the US$17 Million fund had made extensive investment in Papua New Guinea and Fiji, but never in Tonga. The fund is co-financed by the CDC, IFC, European Investment Bank, Proparco, Fiji National Provident Fund, and the ADB. It could provide equity capital ranged from US$200,000 to US$2,000,000 to businesses in 12 Pacific Islands countries. Their terms required a 49 per cent Kula shareholding and an annual return of 25 to 35 per cent. They also had to be member of the board of that particular company, “something that small family-owned businesses may not like but it allows the business to be run and operating as it should.” Troy said.

Dr Kobayashi Izumi, a professor of Political Science from the Osaka Gakuin University visited Tonga in early February to carry out research for the Japanese ODA Program on Tonga’s telecommunications and squash industries. Izumi came here about 10 years ago, not long after the establishment of the Small Industries Centre, and he was interested to see the development there.
Izumi was comparing the economies of various island states and how they are coping with the speed of development, which is dictated by the stronger economy of industrialised countries. He said that the coming Pacific Island Summit to be held in Japan on April 22 should be interesting. ▲