China Syndrome

People are really good at simplifying; exceedingly good. It’s one reason we’ve managed to evolve as a species. It’s helpful to look at a problem and simplify it to find the quickest route from A to B.

People are never quite so simple with the way we treat each other, though. In any culture, people who are different tend to evoke complex feelings.

We’ve all heard about the traveling boisterous annoying American causing people to roll their eyes. Americans tend to leave a huge footprint when they travel because they’re often unaware of the local culture and expect places they visit to operate the way they’re used to.

The Americans and the Chinese may share something in common. A Chinese friend of mine named Perry said that the Chinese are disliked in a number of east Asian countries. China is expanding its influence and is therefore, like the Americans, leaving a big footprint where they go.

That seems to be the case in the Marshall Islands too. There’s a large Chinese population in Majuro, working mainly in retail as shop keepers and owners of supermarkets. Pretty soon the largest private employer in the country will be a Shanghai-run tuna loining plant. It might sound like a positive thing that 600 Marshallese people will soon find employment, but it’s not as simple as that. A lot of the shopkeepers are seen as predators that put less productive locally owned shops out of business. Moreover, a number of the Chinese people seem abrasive to the Marshallese sensibility.

It seems to people here that the Chinese don’t make any attempt to learn the language. Marshallese women are supposed to keep their shoulders and knees covered. It’s considered slutty to walk around in a mini-skirt. So when some Chinese women wear shorts or skirts they are looked down upon.

I myself saw some pretty abrasive behaviour by Chinese people. A guy in front of me at the check-out of the supermarket was rude to the Marshallese cashier. Another example was a Chinese lady who sat in a taxi with Ali and me a few days ago. She spoke so loudly on her cell phone that it sort of hurt the ears. I could clearly see that the taxi driver was annoyed. He glanced at me in consternation, wordlessly saying, “f***ing Chinese, eh?” Thirty seconds into the lady’s conversation, he turned up the volume of the radio. Usually a taxi driver turns down the volume when a patron answers her phone.

The Marshallese reaction is a racist one. The Chinese are seen as an unwelcome addition to the country. I’ve seen taxi drivers give random Chinese pedestrians the finger. Sometimes a taxi won’t even stop and pick up a Chinese person.

A few friends and I were sipping beers at the Flame Tree the Friday that a Pacific Countries that Recognize Taiwan conference was being held. There are seven countries in the Pacific that, in exchange for publicly supporting Taiwan’s bid for independence from China, receive financial aid. In fact, the spanking new conference center hosting the big to-do was a $5 million donation from the government in Taipei.

As I put down my bottle, a Marshallese acquaintance of my friends said, “Don’t mind these chinkos,” referring to all the Taiwanese in town.

I should point out that the Japanese visitors don’t get quite the same treatment. That might be because they mostly consist of young people doing the Japanese equivalent of Peace Corps. Like the young visiting Americans, they learn some of the language, dress appropriately, and teach math as volunteers. It shows the power of forgiveness, and maybe how a new generation puts to rest the feelings of the last. The Japanese were pretty terrible to the Marshallese as colonialists. From 1918 till 1945 the Japanese ruled with an iron fist. The Marshallese were quite thankful when the Americans took over.

The Americans and Australians own a lot of businesses too, but they get a free pass. It’s hypocritical, but one American jerk doesn’t ruin it for the rest. 60% of the government budget, which consists of 40% of the entire GDP, consists of aid from the US government. The Marshallese certainly don’t want that to go away. But a rude Chinese person is generalized as just another a**hole Chinese.