PRESENTATION - Foot soldiers of the nation or frontier capitalists? China's new diaspora in the Pacific

This paper will outline the results of seven years of research into the migration patterns of mainland Chinese entrepreneurs to the South Pacific, drawing on case studies from Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Samoa. It will examine how they negotiate interactions with the local and central state in China, their motivations for starting businesses in the Pacific, their interactions with their predecessors in "old" Chinese business communities, the impact of technological change on their lives, and how they navigate three rather different polities. All welcome.