The United States has publicly designated Zhao Fugang, a prominent Chinese businessman based in Suva, for what the US State Department called “significant corruption” carried out on behalf of China-based actors. The department published its statement on Wednesday 7 October 2026 — Thursday 8 October New Zealand time — according to Asia Pacific Report, which republished reporting by RNZ Pacific.
“His actions constituted significant corruption and adversely affected US interests in Fiji.”
— US State Department statement on Zhao Fugang, as quoted by RNZ Pacific
The department also said Zhao actively pays bribes to Fijian citizens to “advance China-based government, business, and criminal interests”. The measure is a visa designation covering Zhao and his immediate family; it is not a criminal charge.
Key facts, by the numbers
- 1 measure: entry to the United States barred for Zhao and his immediate family.
- 2 assets named: the Yue Lai Hotel in Suva, and the Overseas Chinese Service Center housed inside it.
- 0 charges: no arrest, charge, conviction or court proceeding against Zhao — in Fiji, the US or elsewhere — is recorded in the reporting.
- 3 alleged crime categories in OCCRP’s 2024 investigation: drug smuggling, money laundering and human trafficking.
- Mid-2023: when, per OCCRP, Australian and other Western intelligence agencies began taking an interest in him.
- 3 parties approached for comment by RNZ Pacific — Zhao through his hotel, the Chinese Embassy in Fiji and the Chinese Association of Fiji — with no response from any of the three recorded.
Why it matters
Washington has named a businessman in Fiji’s own capital and tied him directly to Chinese state, commercial and criminal interests operating inside the country. It lands while Fiji is already contending with organised crime at home, including the Fiji Police investigation into a missing cocaine haul.
The allegations, and who makes them
The sharpest claims come not from the State Department but from the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, an international investigative outlet whose 2024 work is a separate reporting strand from RNZ Pacific’s. OCCRP alleged Zhao is a senior member of a syndicate involved in drug smuggling, money laundering and human trafficking.
The US statement is narrower: it speaks of bribery of Fijian citizens and harm to US interests in Fiji, and does not, in the reported text, repeat the trafficking claims.
What it means for Fiji’s economy
Zhao’s interests run from tourism to property development, according to the OCCRP work cited by Asia Pacific Report. Because the designation is confined to US entry, nothing in the reporting restricts trade, contracts or commercial activity — the hotel and his other Fiji-registered interests can keep operating as normal.
Nor can the economic weight of those holdings be sized from the public record: no valuation, employee count, company list or sectoral contribution figure appears in the sources. On the reporting as it stands, Fiji’s exposure is political and reputational rather than financial, and the government’s immediate response has been to seek proof — Fiji has since asked Washington for the evidence behind the designation.
The Bainimarama connection, precisely
Asia Pacific Report describes Zhao as a prominent social figure in Fiji, often seen at Chinese cultural and celebratory events alongside key government figures, both during Frank Bainimarama’s premiership and under the current administration, and says his personal relationships extended as high as Bainimarama himself. The report describes no contract, payment, appointment or business dealing between the two, and the designation does not accuse Bainimarama of wrongdoing. Readers should weigh the line for what it is: a characterisation of proximity, sourced to one outlet.
What is not yet known
- Who received the alleged bribes, in what amount, on what date, and at which institution.
- Which US interests in Fiji were harmed, and how.
- What the Overseas Chinese Service Center does, who runs it and how it is funded.
- Whether any Fijian body — the government, Fiji Police or the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption — is examining the claims. None had commented in the initial reporting.
Asia Pacific Report offers no further detail on any of these points, and none should be assumed.
Background: the 2026 Pacific pattern
Zhao is not the first person in the region to draw a US corruption designation this year. Asia Pacific Report says 2026’s Pacific designations have also covered the Palauan politicians Hokkons Baules and Anderson Jibas, with Baules’s case, like Zhao’s, framed around alleged links to China. None of the three carries a finding of criminal guilt.
How this story is sourced
One caveat readers should hold: this account rests on a single chain. Asia Pacific Report republished RNZ Pacific’s reporting and cited OCCRP’s 2024 investigation; no second outlet has been cross-checked, and this report has not obtained the State Department’s notice directly. Quoted lines from the department are reproduced as RNZ Pacific carried them.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is a State Department visa designation different from US sanctions?
They come from different agencies and work through different machinery. Asset-freezing sanctions are administered by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which lists blocked persons on its specially designated nationals list. A State Department designation of this kind operates through the visa system instead: it renders a person ineligible to enter the United States. No Treasury action against Zhao Fugang has been announced.
Has any other government matched the US step?
None is reported. Neither Australia, New Zealand nor Fiji has announced an entry ban or sanction of its own in the reporting cited here — even though OCCRP said Australian and other Western agencies had taken an interest in Zhao from mid-2023. A US designation carries no legal force over travel to, or business in, third countries.
Where can readers check the primary documents?
Three places. The State Department publishes designation statements on its press-release index; RNZ Pacific produced the original Pacific reporting this account relies on; and OCCRP publishes its 2024 syndicate investigation on its own site. This report has not independently obtained the department’s notice and quotes it as carried by RNZ Pacific, republished by Asia Pacific Report.
