It might be a little premature to make the suggestion to consider having a Chinese, Mandarin speaker assigned to the RSIPF Community Policing Unit.
It does seem to me, however, with the increasing numbers of Chinese engineers and construction workers now assigned in the Solomon Islands, and probably more to arrive, in preparation for the Pacific Games in 2023 in Honiara, it might be advantageous for the police to have a Mandarin speaker that could help in liaison work to avoid incidents such as occurred at the Mamara City complex as well as with reported community concerns over the location of the complex bordering close to custom land.
In carrying out community policing work in Hong Kong it was a requirement that I had a sound knowledge of Chinese, although in those days, Cantonese, and for which I underwent Chinese language instruction at the then Hong Kong Government Language School.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
