Who Will Own Business in Majuro

Hezel, Francis X. (2006-05-12). [www.micsem.org Who Will Own Business in Majuro]. Micronesian Counselor (Report). Kolonia, Pohnpei: Micronesian Seminar. pp. 1–10.

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Abstract: Not too many months ago the headlines of the Marshall Islands Journal announced that Robert Reimers supermarket in downtown Majuro had closed. Robert Reimers Enterprises (RRE), which was a presence on the island for half a century and had outlasted such onetime notables as MIECO and KITCO, had built one of the most fashionable supermarkets in the Trust Territory. With its modern cash registers, its well- stocked shelves and shopping baskets, it was a symbol of what was to come when it was remodeled in 1971. The opening of the new store served as a statement that locally owned business had come of age in Micronesia. For the next 35 years the store remained a landmark in Majuro, surviving both growing competition from outlets like Gibson’s and government boycotts when its owners fell in political disfavor. The store, however, did not survive the challenge of Asian competition. The largest and at one time most successful store in the Marshall Islands was bought by a Taiwanese owner and reopened under the name of Formosa Store.

When a giant falls, the press takes note. Accordingly, the item was carried by Pacific Magazine and news outlets throughout the Pacific. But the fact that a locally owned giant succumbed to Chinese business interests sounded alarms for Micronesian businessmen throughout the whole region and raised some critical issues for business and government alike. Could the fate of Reimers supermarket in Majuro be the harbinger of an Asian business onslaught that would exact a similar toll on other islands? Was this a sign of the end times for locally owned business in the islands? What, then, should be the stance of island governments with respect to the liberalization for foreign investment policies recommended by Asian Development Bank and the world community?

The story of Chinese business ascendancy in Majuro is clearly of interest far beyond the Marshall Islands. This article will attempt to present the background of that story, not as a piece of investigative reporting aimed at making indictments against the RMI Government or private parties in the Marshalls, but as a historical recap of what was responsible for the present Chinese business prominence in Majuro. The article will also suggest a few of the broader issues that the make-over of the Majuro business community by an Asian minority raises.

Chinese Presence on Majuro: No one seems to know for certain just how many ethnic Chinese are now living in Majuro. Nor is there any way of determining this in view of the fact that many Chinese are now holders of an RMI passport. The breakdown of the Majuro population from the 1999 census lists 50 residents from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and another 23 from the Republic of China (ROC, otherwise known as Taiwan), in addition to 166 Filipinos, 28 Japanese and 43 Koreans. Yet, these numbers, which include only foreign...