Atoll Power

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Around 1,300 miles south of the American state of Hawaii, Kiribati is a country of 115,000 people living on 150 square miles of atolls that stretch across more than 1.3 million square miles of the South Pacific. This strategic location blessed Kiribati with an amazing environment and potential seabed mineral riches – but has also made the former British colony a prize in the competition for influence between Australia, China, and the US.

“Like many other Pacific Island countries at the moment, it’s seeking to solidify its identity, its values, its place in the region and in the world,” Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Blake Johnson told Radio New Zealand. “Kiribati does seem to be doing that a little differently to some of the others, in terms of just the transparency.”

Kiribati President Taneti Maamau, for example, initially leaned toward Australia and the US – he was elected in 2016 on a pro-Taiwan platform. But in 2019, he rescinded his country’s recognition of the independent island state off the coast of China. He then won reelection in 2020 despite allegations that Chinese agents bribed officials in his administration to sway his government’s decision-making, explained Foreign Policy magazine.

Then, recently, without explanation or a public announcement of an agreement, Chinese police officers began patrolling Kiribati’s streets, Reuters reported, raising serious questions about the Chinese government’s operations there. The Chinese officers were part of a “community policing and a crime database program,” said Kiribatian law enforcement officials.

American leaders were particularly concerned. Port facilities on the country’s Christmas Island, within range of the US Pacific Command in Hawaii, could provide a good harbor for Chinese warships.

Voters are now deciding whether to continue this trend under Maamau when they elect a new parliament on Aug. 14 and 19 – these lawmakers will choose a new president in October, wrote Radio New Zealand. Maamau can run for one more term. His main rival is opposition leader Tessie Lambourne, who needs to win a seat in parliament before running for the presidency.

In May, Maamau deported Lambourne’s husband, David, a high court judge in Kiribati who is an Australian citizen. He was one of a handful of foreign judges whom Maamau removed, eliminating an entire tier of his country’s court system while making spurious accusations of judicial misconduct, according to the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank. This shift clearly benefits Chinese interests, claimed the Australian Associated Press.

Maamau is likely popular because, rather than proposing to move much of his population to Fiji as sea levels rise, he plans to build a sea wall and expand tourism and other industries to develop the country’s poor economy, noted CNA. He might have meddled in the politics of the International Seabed Authority to boost ocean-bottom mining, too, added the New York Times. And he’s had a spat with the Pacific Islands Forum, a regional grouping, pulling his country out – then returning.

But then, analysts say, that’s all part of the country finding its footing.