(News report from the Herald) Members of the Chinese community policing forum in Nelson Madela Bay vowed yesterday to build better relationships with the SA Police Service and communities in a bid to protect their own.

This was expressed at a meeting held at the Chinese community policing forum(CPF) Cooperation Centre in Burt Drive - a meeting set up following the murder of Chinese businessman Shuisheng Pan, 45, who was killed in a robbery in Port Elizabeth’s Neave Township on February 29.

Discussions relating to the progress of the investigation into Pan’s murder as well as ways in which the Chinese CPF and various SAPS clusters could form a working relationship to create prosperity for all citizens took place.

The group also made mention of at least 28 incidents of violence and crime since October on Chinese businesspeople living in the Bay.

CPF Chairman Binwu Zhuang said: “ We would like to thank the SAPS as well as other CPFs for showing great support to the Chinese community.

“I hope with the blossoming of this relationship between ourselves and local authorities, we can learn more about the different communities, and in doing so, we look to be part of the community and learn to interact better with communities.”

According to Mount Road crime prevention commander Colonel Tony Nomdoe, an identikit of the suspects involved in the attack on Pan will be made available to the Chinese CPF shortly.

Once this had been released, the CPF said, it would offer a reward of R 50 000 to anyone who could provide information which led to an arrest and conviction.

In the presence of the Chinese Deputy Consul General in Cape Town, Li Libei, various SAPS cluster representatives as well as members of the Chinese CPF vowed to create a safer environment for the Chinese community in the Bay.

Pan was on his way to Devi Prox Wholesalers, an electrical goods supplier in the RKA Industrial Park, when he was shot dead.