Honiara's Chinatown was a ramshackle kind of place in bad need of urban renewal but its destruction this week should send alarm bells across the South Pacific.
This week it was the small but visible Chinese community of the Solomon Islands run out of town; next month it could be the same group in Suva, Apia, Nuku'alofa, Vila or Majuro.
Every Pacific nation has its equivalent to a Sir Thomas Chan, the ethnic Chinese businessman who is a naturalised Solomon Islander.
They are the economic lifeblood of most Pacific nations and many of them have genuinely deep and longstanding ties with the islands.
Its not just a local fire either and lit by its flames was the big power struggle between China and Taiwan, which has vexed the region for years. Just before the riots broke out the Solomons, which recognises Taipei, hosted two Taiwanese warships in Honiara.
Yesterday in Beijing Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeman Qin Gang demanded the Solomons ''take every measure possible to secure the safety, lives and property of Chinese people''.
He told the official Xinhua agency that Beijing was ''extremely concerned'' and said Premier Wen Jiabao ordered the Foreign Ministry to closely follow developments and to do everything it can to secure the safety of Chinese people in the Solomon Islands.
Wen earlier this month made a high profile visit to the South Pacific, holding a summit in Fiji, where he highlighted China's growing presence in the region.
''As far as China is concerned, to foster friendship and cooperation with the Pacific island countries is not a diplomatic expediency,'' said Wen.
''Rather, it is a strategic decision. China has proved and will continue to prove itself to be a sincere, trustworthy and reliable friend and partner of the Pacific island countries forever.''
Chinese diplomats were present at RNZF Whenuapai early yesterday morning as the first Chinese evacuees arrived. One of them was Jessica Yi who arrived only with a handbag and the clothes she stood up in – and no passport.
''We just ran for our lives,'' she told Fairfax, adding that the around 1000 Chinese in Honiara were in the same situation. They're hiding in a few houses in the battered town under Red Cross care.
''They are trying to leave; they want China to send an aircraft, to pick them up.''
Ms Yi, a Solomon Islander of Chinese ethnicity, worked at the new Pacific Casino Hotel, owned by the Chan group. She said the first rioters hit the hotel before dawn on Wednesday morning, throwing stones and breaking glass. Regional Assistant Mission (RAMSI) police arrived and they thought they were safe. ''We started to clean up parts of the hotel, and continue our business.
''But next day they came back to our hotel and we had no way, we had to run.'' She reckoned there were 700 people attacking.
''The RAMSI had no way to help, they told us to run…. We just ran for our lives. ''I lost my passport, I lost everything, I came out with just this bag.'' She believed most Chinese people in Honiara were attacked: ''In a few cases they even attacked the people.'' Ngaruawahia businessman Terry Ashdown saw rioters attack Chan connections.
''You could see a couple of guys running around, one guy in particular with a big red bandana,'' he told Fairfax. ''He was clearly directing people. He was saying 'break in there, break in there'.
''From what we could hear he was saying 'this is Chan's, that is Chan's'. They were definitely targeting the Chan family.'' Volunteer Service Aboard's Allan MacGibbon of Turangi had offices in Chinatown and he believes the rioters destroyed 50 to 60 buildings. ''The country's struggling,'' he said flying home a week early at the end of a two year term.
''Depressing is a good word, I feel really deflated. ''It wasn't meant to finish like this. It's bloody depressing.''
Influential Solomons academic Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka writing for the Pacific Islands Report website yesterday noted the riots exploded out of the election of Snyder Rini as prime minister, marking a continuation of the old government that had bought the Solomons to bankruptcy.
The Chinese, or waku as the are known in the Solomons, are alleged to have paid large sums of money to MPs in order to ensure that any government that was formed served their interests.
''The protest against Rini's election as Prime Minister was, therefore, a result of widespread public perceptions that Asian – especially Chinese – businessmen bribed Members of Parliament into supporting Rini and the 'old guard' who served their interests,'' Kabutaulaka writes.
''The sad thing, however, is that the media tends to refer to Asians and Chinese in a very general and inclusive manner that does not do justice to the fact that many Solomon Islander Chinese have little to do with politics. Unfortunately, they too suffered in the rioting and looting and have lost properties.
''Many of the Chinese who owned shops at China Town are descendants of those who came to Solomon Islands during the colonial days as labourers, cooks, laundry boys, etc. for the British administrators and plantation owners. Over the years they worked hard to build the retail stores and the other businesses they owned.
''It is sad and shameful to see all that go up in flame.''
Five years ago it was Suva that was burned and ethnic Indians were the targets; next time?