"What? What would I do with that?",
Paul1405,
Therein lies the problem ! Is it any wonder things go wonky ? Your friend sounds suspiciously like an Academic !

when i at fiji, local workers told me they did not trust Chinese and that they liked aussies and new zealanders.

Did only ask three fijians.

i would think any nation building closer ties with authoritarian China should be very, very careful.

this is not just my opinion, but the opinion of some prominent fijians

There you go Indy, with your complete lack of understanding. Savvy has a high school education, somewhat more than you. His village is located within walking distance of two tourist resorts. He works at one, about 40 hrs/week for about $2.50f/hour, much less than you get for sitting on your arse in Australia doing nothing. His wife does child minding and swimming lessons for children, including their little girl and some of the pre-school kids from the village, along with guests children two afternoons a week at the same resort. Does that make them academics?

The village is a communal cooperative, whereby those that work in a paid job, about 60% of adults earn an income of some kind, which is used for village expenses, buying staples, rice, flour, sugar etc, money for power, mobile phones, petrol and any other village expenses, unlike in your case beer and cigarettes are a luxury. Younger men not employed in that way work several hours a day in the often remote village garden, and the women keep house and look after the pre school children, cook, sew, watch out for the old folks. Sunday is a religious day for almost the entire village, dress up for Sunday services, morning and afternoon, all Methodists.

Indy, you are always putting up ways to penalise others, young people, the unemployed, low paid workers, public servants, refugees, foreign aid recipients. BUT you are happy for yourself to swing of the govvy teat with pensioner welfare. In fact you believe the taxpayer welfare for you should be increased, without you having to do anything for it. Don't give me that BS that in some pasted life you paid for it. How about the soup kitchen and food stamps for you totally unproductives?

BTW, no comment on Chinese aid and the good it is doing.

Indy, you are always putting up ways to penalise others, young people, the unemployed, low paid workers, refugees, foreign aid recipients.
Paul1405,
You're either incredibly deranged or just a blatant liar !
Show me one (1) just one post where I said that !

bula vinaka Chris,

Not sure what kind of workers you are referring to, those in the tourist industry, resorts, "taxi" and shops, buses etc, or others. True, Aussies and Kiwi's in general are well liked, there are the occasional exceptions. We spend time in the Sigatka/Nadi area, we can stay with our friends, but not always, sleeping on the floor on mats gives me a bad back. Don't see a lot of Asians, but their number has grown over recent years. To me they tend to be very busy tourists, as Fijians all understand English, but don't understand what many Chinese are saying, that could well make them suspicious. The truth is the average tourists does not understand the life of the average Fijian at all, just see them as happy smiling faces ready to serve.

Its often said there is conflict between the indigenous Fijians, and the Fijian Indians, I've not seen that greatly, we have friends in both communities. One of the best aid workers for the local indigenous is an Indian Fijian bloke.

Hi Paul,

i stayed at shangri-la resort in 2018, and had booked to go back this year (now on hold).

yes, there may be legitimate reasons for any concern towards chinese.

However, i think that fijians also share a lot of commonality with aussies and kiwis, including their love of sport, especially rugby codes.

i may be generalising, but chinese workers also tend to keep themselves and at times companies may exclude fijians from work opportunities.