19 minute read
Resisting Beijing
from INSIGHT 32 (2022)
CHINESE INFLUENCE ‘INCORRUPTIBLE’
The man standing between Beijing and one of the world’s largest copper mines
By Daniel Y. Teng
Ishmael Toroama, president of Bougainville. Toroama is the “Texas ranger” of Bougainville, an autonomous collection of islands in Papua New Guinea, an investor says.
IN THE HEART OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC region of Bougainville lies Panguna, home to one of the world’s largest copper mines. President Ishmael Toroama knows he has a limited window to revive the mine and, along with it, the hopes of the soon-to-be world’s youngest nation.
Yet precarious waters lie ahead.
Millions of dollars of investment are needed, corruption remains a constant in the fledgling democracy, and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) interest in the strategically important region is no secret.
WHAT MAKES BOUGAINVILLE SO SPECIAL?
Panguna mine has sat dormant for more than three decades after a bloody civil war erupted in 1988 forcing Rio Tinto to shut down the once-massive operation that powered the economy of Papua New Guinea—just north of Australia.
So valuable was Panguna that at its peak it accounted for 12 percent of Papua New Guinea’s national gross domestic product and nearly half of its exports.
The mine is estimated to contain around 1 billion tons of copper and 12 million tons of gold, with a worth of around $100 billion—rivalling some of the largest copper mines in operation today.
Yet it’s not only Bougainville’s resources that are so valuable.
The town of Arawa just north of the mine is home to a major deep-water port built by Mitubishi and Bechtel during the mining heyday. It was used for shipping ore overseas and could conceivably serve as a home for naval vessels.
Further, Bougainville’s location is critical. Wedged between Papua New Guinea to the west and the Solomon Islands to the east, the island region forms a chain with fellow Pacific Islands across the north of Australia and New Zealand.
REVIVING PANGUNA FROM ITS BLOOD-STAINED PAST
Tribal leaders know bringing Panguna back online will be the key to Bougainville’s future, which aims to be independent by 2027.
Behind the push is its president, Toroama, formally the defense chief of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army.
“Bougainville has been blessed by a miracle,” said John D. Kuhns, an American investor in Panguna who spends much of his time in the region meeting with tribal leaders and the president.
“Toroama is not only highly intelligent, but he’s absolutely incorruptible,” Kuhns told Insight. “He is the son of Christian missionary parents and very well-read, despite having to sacrifice his university education to go to war to protect Bougainville.”
The Bougainville Revolutionary Army fought the Papua New Guinean government after dissatisfaction with how Panguna was being operated and how profits were shared.
Tens of thousands of lives were lost during the bloody war, which waged from 1988 to 2001. It ended with the signing of the Bougainville Peace Agreement, which gave the region autonomy and the right for its citizens to vote for its leaders.
BRINGING STABILITY TO A TROUBLED REGION
Kuhns said Toroama soon became the “Texas ranger” of the region.
“In the Bougainville Peace Agreement, Papua New Guinea retained control of the police force,” he said. “The police force is worthless, they’re in it to get bribed. Ishmael is the real Texas ranger, the real cop who dealt with serious problems.”
While some have derided Toroama as a “street gang” leader, others have panned these claims as nothing more than mischaracterisations.
Kuhns himself has struck a close friendship with Toroama and is working with the president to build the Bougainville economy via Numa Numa Resources.
Numa Numa has already carried out major infrastructure works including construction of a major road and hydroelectric dam, assembling a limestone plant to create exports, and reviving the gold panning industry.
Kuhns has developed a tight trust with (Left) A copper ore mine under construction in Panguna, Boungainville, in 1971. (Above) Locals view the site of the Panguna mine in Bougainville.
John D. Kuhns, investor
Toroama and tribal leaders, and set up residence in the region after locals grew frustrated with flyby-night parties who tried to muscle their way in.
SPECTER OF BEIJING HANGS OVER BOUGAINVILLE
In 2013, then-President John Momis launched a stinging rebuke of the Panguna Mine Affected Landowners Association after it attempted to circumvent several stakeholders and lock in a deal with Beijing Aerospace Great Wall Mineral Investment Ltd.
The signed memorandum of understanding was for the Chinese firm to be involved in redevelopment of the mine.
“It has no legal effect. It is null and void as far
$100
BILLION
Panguna mine is estimated to contain around 1 billion metric tons of copper and 12 million metric tons of gold, worth around $100 billion.
PA P U A N E W G U I N E A Panguna
BOUGAINVILLE ISLAND SOLOMON ISLANDS The bustling waterway in the capital city of Buka, Bougainville, which is wedged between Papua New Guinea to the west and the Solomon Islands to the east, on Nov. 21, 2019.
as we are concerned. We will certainly throw it out,” Momis told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Aug. 14, 2013. He was Papua New Guinea’s ambassador to China from 2007 to 2010.
“The Chinese have tried for years to figure out how to get control of Bougainville, specifically the Panguna mine, and they’re not going to go away. They’ll keep trying as long as they can,” Kuhns said.
He said at one point, Chinese actors “bought and paid for” 10 mining licenses—sans a formal application—to build a 50-man camp in Panguna. However, this sparked a fierce response from the locals.
“That was later burned down by the customary land owners,” Kuhns said, “because the Chinese did not pursue any relationship with the people.”
Yet under the tenure of Momis, Beijing remained a preferred partner, with the leader signing several memoranda of understanding and backing the establishment of a Special Economic Zone with China in 2011.
Momis, along with Fidelis Semoso, the former minister for economic development, also signed a deal wherein the government purchased 500,000 shares in Bougainville Import and Export General Corporation Limited—a joint venture with a Chinese corporation.
Both ran in the 2020 presidential election, along
with Sam Kauona, former general of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army, who openly stated he would align the country with Beijing over Taiwan.
“I see China is now an emerging country; it’s going to become powerful in the near future, not Taiwan—Taiwan is going to go down,” he told “60 Minutes” in 2019. “I see China has culture; they are cultured people. Bougainville are cultured people; our culture is something we can connect with.”
AN UNCLEAR FUTURE
Bougainville leaders are allowed to serve two fiveyear presidential terms, which means Toroama will need to get Panguna up and running by 2030 and also solidify the democratic institutions before and after the independence referendum in 2027.
“If you were to ask me, ‘Who’s Ishmael’s No. 2? Is there a very reliable No. 2 if something should happen to him?’ And the answer is, unfortunately, no,” Kuhns said.
“Everybody knows this, the people that I’ve talked to in Australia, but also in the United States and the higher reaches of government. What happens when Ishmael isn’t president anymore? What’s going to happen then? And honestly, it’s anybody’s guess. The same kind of thing that happened in the Solomons could happen here.”
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare forged ahead with a secret security deal with the CCP in April—a moved that stunned democratic leaders.
The deal enshrined deeper ties between Beijing and the Solomon Islands, paving the way for Chinese authorities to station troops, weapons, and even naval ships in the region—which could ush-
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (L) and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Oct. 9, 2019. John D. Kuhns, investor Ishmael Toroama, president of Bougainville (L), with Panguna mine investor John D. Kuhns, director of Numa Numa Resources.
er in militarization akin to the South China Sea.
However, it’s not just deeper ties that have concerned South Pacific experts. Some have warned that Beijing’s involvement has allowed corrupt leaders to ignore rule of law and allow democratic institutions to erode. In fact, Sogavare faces immense pressure domestically from the opposition, provincial leaders, and even the population—exemplified by riots in November 2021 that saw the Chinatown district razed in the capital Honiara.
Yet the prime minister has managed to hold onto power and convince U.S., Australian, and New Zealand leaders that Beijing will not militarize the region—even grabbing an opportunity at a recent Pacific Islands Forum meeting to embrace Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, which South Pacific expert Cleo Paskal says will be used to show the Solomons who was really in charge.
“You start to get this distortion in the society that creates an enormous amount of social anger,” Paskal, the senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Insight.
“If you are from a democratic background, you think that’s a bad thing. But if you accept this premise of ‘entropic warfare’ being the desired outcome from Beijing, you actually do want to create disruption within the society.”
Paskal said the South Pacific was a “petri dish” for Beijing’s ongoing use of entropic warfare—to erode a nation’s institutions to the point where it can’t react or deal with foreign interference.
“This is a template that is particularly easy to see in the smaller countries in the Pacific because the mechanisms of governance are thinner, the bureaucracies are smaller, and the parliaments are smaller,” she said, adding that Bougainville was no exception.
A homeless man stands outside of tents on Skid Row in Los Angeles on Nov. 25, 2020.
PHOTO BY ROBYN BECK/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
LOS ANGELES
LIFE Rats and poverty, but for some also flat-screen TVs, air conditioning, and a stocked fridge ON SKID ROW
Los angeles—the homeless tent city known as Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles is where people end up when the bottom drops out of their lives.
Sometimes, it’s where they die—one final insult added to injury.
For Cuban-born Fernando Sanchez, Skid Row has been his home for a decade and a half.
He didn’t plan it that way. Life’s uppercuts just came after losing his job in the Great Recession.
When his family gave up on him, he realized he’d lost everything except his will to live.
“To be honest, I’ve been homeless for the last 15 years,” Sanchez told Insight.
“I lost my job, [had] problems with my family. You know how a family is sometimes. When you have no job, they think you [are lazy]. No support. I used to have a good job. I used to be a truck driver.”
At 64, Sanchez is close to retirement age.
He admits life on Skid Row could be much worse if it weren’t for the kindness of strangers. Each day he sees them bringing food, clothing, and other essentials.
Even luxuries.
“How do I survive? They donate food— breakfast in the morning. Over here, they give a lot of food,” Sanchez said, pointing at the sidewalk area where the supplies get dropped off.
“I don’t get anything from the government. I’ve never been in the military— nothing like that,” he said.
Through networking and charity, Sanchez has been lucky to accumulate the things he needs to make life in this urban wasteland bearable—even comfortable.
His moveable tent dwelling seems palatial by homeless standards.
Pitched against a concrete wall is the main tent where he sleeps. It has a large flat-screen television, an air conditioner to stay cool in the summer, and a gas generator to power both.
He has a full-size bed made with fresh linen and a pink throw rug he keeps clean with an electric vacuum.
In an adjoining tent, he has a small refrigerator, a deep freezer stocked with beef and chicken, and a wine rack with bottles of merlot and other vintages.
He recently acquired a kitten and a puppy to keep him company. He has a BMX-style bicycle to get around and trusted friends to watch over his property when he’s out and about.
Yes, life could be worse but for a bit of ingenuity and the goodness of strangers.
On this sunny morning, a young woman stopped in front of Sanchez’s tent, pulling a cart filled with brand-new shoes and T-shirts.
She asked Sanchez which ones he wanted.
Sanchez wasn’t too fussy. He picked the best red T-shirt that fit him.
Over the years, religious and other charitable groups have formed missions to help the homeless of Skid Row, like Sanchez, who now number more than 11,000.
Drive-By Do-Gooders, for example, is a volunteer organization serving 240 poor adults each week, mainly those on Skid Row who have difficulty reaching services.
Skid Row resident Fernando Sanchez recently acquired a puppy to keep him company.
Charitable donations take place from a car window, “much like an ice-cream truck,” according to the organization’s website.
“We offer basic human needs with no agenda, just pure giving,” it states.
Among the most vital necessities they provide is drinking water, handing out nearly 1,000 bottles every month, as well as sanitary wipes, socks, tarps, clothing, and “portable protein” foods such as cold string cheese.
Food lines and pop-up buffets are in the heart of Skid Row. Drive-By Do-Gooders travel to the outskirts of the area, where hundreds of the disabled, elderly, and mentally challenged reside.
The city has launched programs, such as Homeless Health Care Los Angeles, to
A man sits beside a Skid Row painting on a sidewalk in downtown Los Angeles on May 30, 2019.
mitigate the suffering of the poor and disadvantaged living on Skid Row.
Evans Clark is the project manager of the ReFresh Spot on Towne Avenue, located directly across from Sanchez’s tent enclosure.
The facility offers amenities most people might take for granted: toilets, showers, a safe, clean, shady place to hang out, and a laundry facility.
“They’re doing pretty good. I don’t hear any complaints,” Clark told Insight. “We treat everyone with respect and dignity, let them know they can come back any time and get the services we provide.”
At the corner of Town Avenue and Fifth Street, a station wagon pulled up next to the curb cut where a man who goes by the name Soul Brother sat in a chair.
The driver then held out a shopping bag filled with groceries.
Soul Brother walked over to the driver, receiving the donation of perishable food with a heartfelt thank you.
You could say Soul Brother is the gatekeeper of this dilapidated stretch of Skid Row, wary of newcomers who might wish to steal or exploit the homeless in some way—as they have.
There have been murders on Skid Row over the years, as its history is as long as it is tragic.
Between 1900 and 1920, it was known as Hobo Corner, hosting thousands of migrant workers and men left homeless after the Civil War.
In time, the police grew tired of the violence, mental illness, and alcoholism that plagued the location. Some men didn’t want to leave, so the police forced them out with periodic “hobo sweeps” to reduce their numbers.
“Don’t help this class,” the local press reported. “It’s a crime against the community to do it.”
Today, Skid Row spans nearly five square miles—50 city blocks. It continues to grow in a worsening California economy with new arrivals each day, including people with myriad problems and people priced out of the market.
(Above) A man walks past tents housing the homeless on the streets in the Skid Row community of Los Angeles on April 26, 2021. (Right) A man who goes by the name “Soul Brother” holds one of his important possessions—an American flag—on July 26.
Despite the daily misery and squalor, Soul Brother does his part to keep his tent enclosure clean and free of garbage that might attract rats.
Rated one of the most rat-infested cities in the United States, Los Angeles now faces periodic outbreaks of flea-borne typhus, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
As of November 2021, the county reported 83 cases of typhus, the Los Angeles Medical Association said.
“One of the first things they should have tackled wastheratsituation,”Soul Brother said. “If you don’t cleanthestreetsright,the rats will come back.”
Operation Healthy Streets, another city program, hasn’t done nearly enough to keep Skid Row clean, he said.
While good samaritans havepitchedinwithdonations of trash cans, those only get hauled away when filled, Soul Brother said.
“You’re telling me that the richest country with the richest city in the world has this type of problem? [Sanitation] should be on the top of the list. We need more trash cans. How will one trash can take care of all these people right here?” he said. Sanchez said that although a cleaning com11,000 PEOPLE pany makes regular visits to Skid Row, “everywhere they got a lot of rats.” “Rats, roaches—everything. I can prove it to SKID ROW IS NOW HOME to more than 11,000 homeless people. you. Wanna see?” Sanchez points to deep holes in the sidewalk. “Everywhere, you see? 50 They come from these holes over here—day and night. Oh man, they’re BLOCKS big. you. Don’t let them fool We have rats all over.”
TODAY, SKID ROW spans nearly five square miles, or 50 city blocks. A man who calls himself “D,” who lives in a tent at the corner of Fifth and Towne, said he’s been homeless on Skid Row for the past seven years after being released from prison. It’s been an uphill battle on the streets for him ever since.
“You have to deal with society,” D told Insight. “People down here are more than happy to understand you than, I guess, anywhere else. But you can’t get a job because you don’t have a work history. You can’t get an apartment because you don’t have a rent history.”
“I know many people who have signed up [for assistance] and got help. In my case, I’ve been locked up for too long.”
“COVID also hit a lot of people” on Skid Row, he said.
The Los Angeles County health department reported more than 3.4 million COVID-19 cases throughout the county as of August.
In January 2021, Rev. Andy Bales, president and CEO of the Union Rescue Mission on Skid Row, told Fox 11 there had been a 66 percent surge in cases among the homeless.
As California’s COVID-19 economy unraveled, people kept showing up on Skid Row, D said.
“I knew a couple of people—one in particular,” he said. “Her van was so packed full of stuff she couldn’t drive around.
“Yeah, she was out here. She was a good person. She was funny. Last I heard, she
went out to Santa Monica or was on her way there.”
D said he also met a woman with three young girls who visited the ReFresh Spot every day.
“I’m not exactly sure what her story was, but she was divorced or something like that. There are a lot of people out here for a lot of different reasons. Some have mental health issues—some more severe than others.
“Some are having a harder time adjusting or reintegrating [into society]. I find out about some, and when I check up on them, it’s too late.”
Then there are those on Skid Row who choose to stay homeless, fearing being “pigeon-holed or, put in a way, restricted,” D said.
“They’ll give you a room, and it sounds great, but you can’t have visitors. So for a single guy that’s kind of like—you know what I mean.”
“With me, I’ve got anxiety. I’ve got PTSD. I can’t get into a subway without freezing up. I’ll have like standing blackouts.”
Mario Fase, 54, also known as “Guitar Man,” said he joined the ranks of the homeless on Skid Row when he became divorced. Mario Fase, who goes by the nickname “Guitar Man,” has been homeless on Skid Row since he got divorced 10 years ago.
That was 10 years ago. He’s been on a waiting list for subsidized housing for months.
Like Sanchez, Fase lived in Florida before moving to California, hoping to create a better life for himself.
Soul Brother, homeless man
“I liked California because I was in the Navy for three years—San Diego. [But] they use you, and they forget about you. I feel resentment. They don’t care. It’s not right. [But] that’s another story,” he said.
Fase said he’s used to many unpleasant things on Skid Row—the deafening fire alarms blaring nonstop and the rats coming out all day.
“All sizes. The bigger they are, the faster they are,” he said. “They’re not aggressive. ... OK—enough, get out of here. They’re everywhere, man.
“As long as you don’t leave food around, they don’t come around. As soon as I see one, I say, ‘Get out! Get out!’
“It’s worse on 7th and Main. How are you going to get rid of the rats? You can’t get rid of the rats.”
Ben Burgey counts himself fortunate on Skid Row, having lined up a small apartment.
“After being on Skid Row for seven years, I’ve had some rats in my apartment—rats all the time,” he said.
“Do you see those tent rods? When you use them like a club—it’s like—‘smack!’ It’s very humane. I got good at it for a reason. I’ve had lots of rats for practice.”
Burgey said he’s somewhat concerned about typhus, given the recent outbreaks.
“I mean, the fleas from rats pass bubonic plague—25 million people [dead],” he said. “We’ve had this education before.
“Is it getting out of control? It’s been out of control. If these rats move slowly, they’d be furniture, but [they] move quickly.”
Soul Brother said the problem could improve with a few more trash cans.
But for the kindness of strangers.
SPOTLIGHT
Preserving Biodiversity
MEN FROM THE SLOVAK GROUP SHARPEN
their scythes for the fourth annual manual scythe mowing of the Kopanecke meadows in Slovak Paradise National Park, in Vernar, Slovakia, on Aug. 5. The park’s administration organizes enthusiasts coming from Slovakia, Poland, and the Czech Republic to participate in the hand-scythe mowing, which was the traditional method used by residents of the village of Vernar to collect hay from the meadows, so as to protect the area’s rich biodiversity. The meadows were hand-scythed until 1975.
