Flight chartered to evacuate Chinese in Tonga

Plans are being made to evacuate hundreds of expatriate Chinese from the Pacific island kingdom of Tonga after last week's riots.

Many of them had sought refuge at the Embassy when their homes and businesses came under attack.

There are about 4,000 Chinese nationals living in Tonga. Many of them took up the offer of residency back in 2000, when the country sold passports in a controversial scheme to generate income for the cash-strapped kingdom.

Now many of them want to go home, and preparations are being made to charter an aircraft to fly them back to China as soon as it can be arranged.

Around 150 people took refuge at the Chinese Embassy following the riots last Thursday.

Many others fled homes and businesses in the capital until law and order was restored over the weekend with the arrival of a joint Australian-New Zealand assistance mission.

Another 27 Australian Federal Police are are on their way to assist Tongan authorities speed up crime scene examinations and forensic work.