In Beijing yesterday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said China believes that Argentina's government and people will overcome the current difficulties, revive their economy and maintain their social stability.

She said that some grocery shops owned by overseas Chinese as well as Argentinian citizens of Chinese origin had been looted in this week's disturbances in Argentina.

Lin Guoxing, a 49-year-old Chinese man, felt his life was in danger as he cowered in his heavily guarded supermarket in suburban Buenos Aires.

Lin, who emigrated to the South American country in 1988, did not sleep for two days, his eyes fixated on the main door of his shop.

On Tuesday afternoon, more than 200 locals rushed towards his supermarket, broke the windows with hammers, tore open the front entrance and snatched every item they could take.

In 50 minutes of looting, the mob, which included women and children, turned one of Lin's three supermarkets into a mass of debris and empty shelves.

Lin telephoned all his employees and told them to meet in one of his other supermarkets, which has a shop floor of about 1,200 square metres, to prepare for another possible ransacking.

He strengthened the iron front door, covered all the windows and piled up all the reserve stock, ranging from packets of chocolate to toothbrushes and even boxes of Coca-Cola cans.

However, Lin said he still felt unsafe. All the employees, including some local Argentinians, helped him defend his shop. They relied only on a phone and a television to find out what turned out to be the biggest riot in Argentina in a decade.

Coughing frequently, a hoarse-voiced Lin said: "I am scared. I do not know what will happen to me tomorrow morning. All I can do is wait and pray for luck."

Lin's pain was felt by other members of the Chinese business community in Argentina.

Many Argentinians, angry at government austerity measures and poverty, turned their rage into looting and demonstrations this week and fought riot police in the streets.

Chinese nationals - who play a big role in Argentina's supermarket, chain-store, restaurant and gift-shop businesses - are bearing the brunt of the situation.

Of 4,000 supermarkets in the capital Buenos Aires, 1,800 are run by Chinese, said an official from the Chinese Embassy.

The official, whose surname is Xiang, said of the Chinese-run supermarkets: "However, due to their proximity to the localities inhabited mainly by lower and middle-income families, these stores have been hit hard."

(China Daily December 21, 2001)