MANY people caught their breath last week when the interim Government announced that Chinese nationals did not need a visitor's visa to enter Fiji.
It was not because they had anything against Chinese people.
Why should they because a lot of Chinese now call Fiji home.
They gained the respect of the communities they reside in by their hard work and honesty.
However, the fact that some crime organisations around the world have taken advantage of our economic vulnerability and weakness to detect crimes is a cause for alarm.
Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama cleared the way for Chinese with an order in exercise of his powers as interim Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration under Section 12 of the Passport Act.
Big brothers Australia and New Zealand are threatened by this open door policy.
They believe it could lead to an influx of illegal immigrants, street gangs, drug smugglers, violence, money laundering, prostitution, illegal gambling and the possibility of terrorists entering their borders through Fiji.
Illegal fishing as well as immigration and passport scams are a worry.
A Pacific Islands report highlighted this fear as being the cause for the Australian Federal Police setting up trans-national crime units in the Pacific since 2002 to help curb criminal activities in the region.
Two years after Australia first established the units in the Pacific, authorities busted a major drug syndicate at Laucala Beach in Suva.
The lab was capable of manufacturing half a ton of crystal methamphetamine hydrochloride commonly known as ice.
Ice is a powdery substance which is crushed and placed in a spoon and heated from under the spoon.
The fumes are sniffed and it is considered one of the most lethal drugs in the world apart from cocaine and heroin.
It was the largest crystal meth lab discovered in the southern hemisphere and sent shockwaves that such an operation could be taking place in our backyard without our knowledge.
According to the AFP, the lab was capable of producing a ton of crystal meth in a week and because it was so cheap to produce, the profits were enormous.
Around the same time the AFP also intercepted 357 kilograms of heroin, valued at several million dollars, in Fiji.
The organisation said drugs-related criminal activities in island nations were neither spearheaded nor intended for indigenous people but targetted international tourists frequenting the islands.
Local police and Customs officials confiscated the drugs and chemicals which had a street value of $1billion. Codenamed Operation Outrigger, the sting was the result of 14 months of painstaking surveillance and monitoring work with assistance from Australia and New Zealand.
Four Asians and three Fijians were arrested in the drugs raid.
Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes had said that the tip-off about an Asian crime syndicate operating in Fiji came from Interpol.
"This is a frightening example of trans-national organised crime elements using Fiji as a staging ground for their illegal activities," he said.
"Increasingly we are seeing these elements coming to Fiji and joining up with local criminal groups."
Mr Hughes said while Fiji attracted investment it also attracted people willing to exploit her vulnerability.
FIRCA chief executive at the time, Sila Kotobalavu, said trans-national criminal groups had a significant impact on economies such as ours. He said Asian groups corrupted officials and bypassed tax and Customs requirements.
In a separate incident involving Asians in 2004, a Chinese national in her 30s was found stuffed in a suitcase in a Rewa Street flat.
Two other women of Asian origin were charged with her death.
She was believed to have been dead 48 hours before the stench emanated from her flat and she was found in a bag under the bed.
It was speculated in 2003 that a group of Chinese businessmen were trading body parts or organs of five children who had been kidnapped in the Western Division.
This prompted a police investigation.
In 2003 Chinese immigrants were investigated by police after 35 women were found packed in a van licensed to carry only 15 people.
The women, who spoke very little English, were later found by police to be employed as garment workers.
In the same year police investigated a link that a hired assassin killed four people in a pool of blood in a live fish export factory in Lami.
The brutal killings shocked the Chinese community as well as workers in the area.
The bodies of the two elderly Chinese men, a teenage Asian worker and a Fijian man were removed from the Live Fish Exports Fiji factory more than 24 hours after they were murdered.
And although gambling was illegal in 2005, a police raid netted more than $36,000 cash from two restaurants where Chinese nationals were caught gambling.
Five illegal Chinese immigrants were deported after 42 Chinese nationals were questioned during the gambling raid.
Despite all these incidents, interim Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and military-appointed Immigration director Viliame Naupoto, are adamant Chinese nationals gaining entry into Fiji without a visa was a great idea that should be welcomed.
Mr Naupoto said he was not even sure if the visa exemption order for China would result in an influx of tourists in the country.
He said only a small percentage of Chinese travelled.
"In June, 224 Chinese visitors were recorded, so we do not really expect an influx," he said.
Mr Naupoto said the Chinese would be profiled at the border just like everyone else whether they had a visa or not.
He said Immigration officials would check for their return air tickets and evidence of sufficient funds to allow them to stay in the country as visitors.
Mr Naupoto said people should understand that those with a visa and those exempted were subjected to the same checks by Immigration officials and there was no need to worry.
Mr Chaudhry, like Mr Naupoto, said the exemption should not be a threat to the government, police or Immigration department.
He said such a move posed no threat because everyone who entered Fiji, regardless of colour, race or gender had to meet appropriate laws and regulations.
Mr Chaudhry said it was the responsibility of the Immigration and Customs Authority to ensure Fiji did not have illegal immigrants and if they were alert, the move would pose no threat.
Now we can only wait to see if such a move will really bring progress or whether it is something that Fiji would regret as it would only pose more problems in our region.
