<![CDATA[Chinese migrants in East Timor long for home but say Dili is better for earning a living]>

Walking through Timor Plaza, the largest shopping centre in East Timor, it's hard to ignore the number of Chinese-owned stores " a sign of the steady increase in mainland migrants who started to arrive after China became the first country to officially recognise East Timor's independence in 2002.

One of the store owners is Ma Liyu, 54, originally from Ningde city in China's Fujian province. She sells tea leaves and mobile phone accessories, with items in the store costing anywhere between US$13 and US$300.

Ma moved to East Timor 11 years ago after hearing it was easier to make money in the country. But starting up her business was not easy. Soon after arriving, she said she was tricked by a fellow Chinese immigrant and lost US$70,000 of her savings.

"Chinese people could trick each other," Ma said. "They want to cheat you for your money ... they make money, you lose money. This happens regularly."

Still, business thrived at first though it has slowed with more competition from other sellers, Ma said. Other Chinese shop owners said they have also seen a dip in takings as economic growth has slowed. The World Bank reported in April that East Timor's GDP had declined for a second consecutive year.

However, those interviewed said they felt they were better off in East Timor than in China.

A couple originally from Fujian's Pingtan county, who only gave their surnames as Hui and Wen, set up a convenience store in Audian, a suburb of the capital Dili, in 2005.

Ma Liyu. Photo: Randy Mulyanto alt=Ma Liyu. Photo: Randy Mulyanto

"Working here means you make US dollars and convert it into our RMB so you can earn a little more," Wen said, referring to how East Timor uses American currency.

Located 500km off Australia's north coast and sharing a land border with Indonesia, East Timor " also known as Timor-Leste " is Asia's youngest democracy. On August 30, 1999, 78.5 per cent of East Timorese voted to split from Indonesia, and a UN transitional administration ran the country for three years until it achieved full independence. It has a population of 1.3 million and is one of the poorest countries in Asia-Pacific, with most citizens being subsistence farmers.

Mica Barreto Soares, a researcher on China-East Timor relations and contributor to the 2019 Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Timor-Leste, estimated that about 4,000 Chinese migrants were living in the country as of 2019, and had set up 300 to 400 business enterprises. These include selling cheap goods and construction materials, and running restaurants, hotels, brothels, internet cafes and petrol stations, she wrote.

However, the Chinese embassy in Dili has never released figures on how many of its citizens are in East Timor, and many might not register their presence with the embassy or overstay their visas, making it difficult to determine the exact number.

Graeme Smith, a fellow at the Department of Pacific Affairs of the Australian National University and host of The Little Red Podcast, which deals with China affairs, said the mainland saw the strategic importance in recognising East Timor first because of its geopolitical competition with Taiwan and the potential of the Wetar Strait, which is seen as an alternative shipping lane to the Strait of Malacca.

"The reason for China's haste in recognising Timor-Leste in 2002 is partly down to Timor-Leste being the world's newest nation state, and one that Taiwanese diplomats had been taking an interest in," Smith said.

Soares said the value of China's investments in East Timor were "very, very small" compared to Indonesia and Australia, but its infrastructure investment was more visible.

"Actually, China's not the main player in East Timor ... but the presence of Chinese companies or business is also significant because they are engaged in small to medium enterprises," Soares said.

A Chinese-owned shop in Audian. Photo: Randy Mulyanto alt=A Chinese-owned shop in Audian. Photo: Randy Mulyanto

China helped build East Timor's foreign ministry, defence ministry and presidential office buildings and the nation's electrical grid and cross-country highway. Last month, construction began on a US$490 million deep water port in East Timor's Tibar Bay, awarded to Chinese state-owned China Harbour Engineering Company.

Chinese companies are seen to be improving East Timor's economy by bringing down prices and increasing competition, but there are concerns about collusion between Chinese businesses.

"There is social tension in many cases, particularly in the retail and construction sectors where local entrepreneurs feel crowded out by new Chinese entrants," Smith said.

"The most obvious downside, other than social tensions against shopkeepers, is the rise of clientelist relationships between larger PRC enterprises, typically in construction and energy, and local politicians," he added.

Soares highlighted reports of fighting between locals and Chinese migrants in Dili and 12 other districts in the country, attributing this to social jealousy.

"It may be premature to claim that there has been a rise in open anti-Chinese sentiment in Timor-Leste, but isolated incidents have raised tensions and directed racially motivated sentiments against new Chinese migrants," she wrote.

The Timorese, however, have differing views on the presence of the Chinese.

Maria Carmen Alianca Ximenes Pereira, 37, who works at a hotel in Dili, said Chinese investment in the country was good as it could result in more locals finding employment.

"To be honest, when we were under Indonesian rule, only half of the Timorese could work as employees or working in shops," Pereira said. "Now we are already independent, everyone works " even with a lower salary " but everyone works."

Security guard Adelino Soares, 46, observed that the economy increasingly relies on Chinese money. "The country has changed economically, but little by little."

Maria Carmen Alianca. Photo: Randy Mulyanto alt=Maria Carmen Alianca. Photo: Randy Mulyanto

Taxi driver Juli da Silva, 30, pointed out that he preferred buying Indonesian products. "Chinese products are lower in price, but their quality is lacking. Those can break easily," da Silva said.

Meanwhile, Ma said she had chosen to remain in East Timor and run her shop as she was used to living in Dili. "No matter which Southeast Asian country, there are many impostors [from China]," she said.

Wen said she and her husband did not have good economic prospects in Fujian province, and had made much more money in East Timor.

"We want to go home [for good], but for now there's nothing we can do," she said. "Returning to China to develop ourselves is basically impossible because we are now in our 40s and 50s already."

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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.