CHINESE GROWING INVESTMENTS IN SAMOA

UNCLAS WELLINGTON 000773 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS EAP/ANP, EEB/IPC, INR, PACOM FOR J01E/J2/J233/J5/SJFHQSTATE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON ETRD PGOV PREL NZ XV SUBJECT: CHINESE GROWING INVESTMENTS IN SAMOA ¶1. (SBU) Wellington based Econoff recently had a chance to serve as acting Charge' in Apia, Samoa, affording the opportunity to represent the U.S. and meet with representatives of the Samoan Government, the local business community and members of the Diplomatic Corps at a reception hosted by the Chinese Ambassador, Longzhuang Shi at the Chinese Embassy on Sept 28, 2007 to celebrate the 58th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. ¶2. (SBU) The theme of the evening was the very close relationship between Samoa and the PRC. The speeches given by the Chinese Ambassador and the Samoan Deputy PM Retzlaff stressed the largess of the Chinese which Samoan officials claim contributed to the success of the 13th South Pacific Games hosted in Apia from 25 August to 8 September. These sporting events included 770 athletes from 22 Pacific Island nations and territories who competed in some 32 events. There were estimates of approx. 4000 visitors from the Pacific region attending the games. The stated objective of these games is to "create bonds of kindred friendship and brotherhood amongst people of the countries of the Pacific region through sporting exchange without any distinctions as to race, religion, or politics." The PRC provided low interest loans and economic grants for construction of the main sporting venues, especially a large swimming complex. In April 2007 new development projects valued at $2.6 million were concluded and in September 2007, the PRC begun construction of two office complexes for the Samoan Parliament and Justice Department, with another multi-million dollar ministry building in the pipeline. ¶3. (SBU) In a frank exchange with the President of the Samoa Chamber of Commerce, Papalii Grant Percival, acting Charge' learned that the Chinese had since forgiven the loans for the construction of the sports complexes and were in the process of supplying two new turbo jets to the Samoan national airline to increase inter-island flights. The acting Charge' also had an opportunity to also meet with Rudolf Keil, the owner of Samoa's 5 private radio stations and the island only commercial cinema theater owner. We discussed the problems of IP protection and the growing number of pirated products entering the market especially from China. He asked for assistance in supporting cases brought to the attention of the Attorney General in the hope of beginning a crack down on the growing number of shops selling counterfeit items. Upon returning to Wellington, Econoff contacted industry representatives in Auckland to apprise them of the situation and was told that the Motion Picture Assoc. (MPA) would be in touch with Mr. Keil and the Samoan AG to support the enforcement of the IP regime against the growing instances of piracy. McCormick