• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Kiribati - PRC Relations

China and Kiribati established diplomatic relations in 1980. This relationship, however, was disrupted in 2003 after the Pacific island country established diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

China and Kiribati resumed diplomatic relations on 21 September 2019 on the basis of the one-China policy, opening a new chapter for bilateral ties. Kiribati government acknowledges one-China principle, and the island of Taiwan is an inseparable part of China. Saying that relations between China and Pacific island countries are maintaining a momentum for rapid development, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the people of China and Kiribati have always held friendly feelings toward each other despite some setbacks in bilateral ties. "China welcomes Kiribati's return to the big family of China-Pacific island cooperation on the basis of the one-China principle at an early date," Geng said. "We stand ready to work with Kiribati to open a new chapter in the bilateral relationship."

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on 06 January 2019 that Kiribati's President Taneti Mamau and his country stand on the right side of history by resuming diplomatic ties with China. Xi made the remarks when holding talks with Mamau at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Since the resumption of diplomatic ties, China and Kiribati have conducted numerous exchanges in different areas and at different levels with fruitful results, he said.

Xi said the two countries should expand pragmatic cooperation by seeking the synergy of the Belt and Road Initiative with Kiribati's development plans. China will encourage more Chinese enterprises to invest in Kiribati, said Xi, adding that China has approved the listing of Kiribati as a destination for Chinese tour groups. China is willing to enhance cooperation within multilateral mechanisms including the United Nations and the Pacific Islands Forum, and will continue to provide assistance and support to Kiribati on climate change under the framework of South-South cooperation to safeguard the common interests of developing countries, said Xi.

China and Kiribati looked forward to further development of the bilateral relations while celebrating the first anniversary of the resumption of the diplomatic ties. "One year ago, the seed of China-Kiribati cooperation was sowed when Kiribati made the historical decision to resume the diplomatic ties with China. Now the seed has grown up into a strong sapling tree under the care from both sides," said Chinese Ambassador to Kiribati Tang Songgen. Tang made the remarks at the reception marking the Chinese National Day and the first anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic ties held by the Chinese embassy in Kiribati on Friday evening in Tarawa, capital of the south Pacific island country.

Tang spoke highly of the fruitful cooperation conducted by the two countries in many areas including trade, green energy, agriculture and fishery, education, health and cultural exchanges, which benefited the people in Kiribati. He said facts proved that the resumption of the diplomatic relationship between China and Kiribati conforms to the trend of the times and is in the fundamental interests of the two peoples. The Chinese side will work with the Kiribati government to deepen the bilateral cooperation on the basis of mutual respect, equality and reciprocity.

President of Kiribati Taneti Maamau recalled the resumption of the diplomatic ties in September 2019 as "a bold and decisive step to start a new journey." Speaker of Kiribati's House of Assembly Tangariki Reete, Vice President Teuea Toatu, Chief Justice John Muria, ministers, members of the House of Assembly and people of all works of life also attended the reception.

The Tobwaan (‘Embrace’) Kiribati Party (TKP) national development manifesto, the "Kiribati 20-year vision," which looks set to be integrated into China’s Belt and Road Initiative, gives highest priority to building two transhipment hubs. One hub is planned at the capital of Tarawa Atoll, which was the site of the first major amphibious landing by US forces during World War II. The second is planned at the strategically located Kiritimati (‘Christmas’) Atoll in the east, directly south of Hawaii. By 2020 Beijing had proposed large-scale dredging to reclaim land from lagoons. The aims were to raise the height of atolls and create land for industrial development, including two major ports.

China is reported to have plans to refurbish and expand the airstrip on the island of Kanton, also spelled Canton Island, 1,300 miles distant from Tarawa. Kanton has been used by the US for space and missile tracking operations and its runway hosted long-range bombers during the war. There are around two dozen residents on Kanton who rely on subsistence fishing and supply ships. The air strip is at the northwestern tip of the atoll; boats gain passage to the lagoon through an inlet on the western shore.

Following an agreement between the United States and Great Brittan for the common use of the Island of Canton and Enderbury in the South Pacific Ocean for international aviation and communication, Secretary of interior Harold Ickes on 13 April 1939 signed a license permitting Pan American Airways to use Canton Island as an air base for its commercial trans-Pacific air transport service between California and New Zealand.

At the end of January 2008, Kirabtai established the world’s largest marine protected area. The reserve surrounds the nation’s central island group, the Phoenix Islands. The new Phoenix Islands Protected Area includes an archipelago of 8 coral atolls and 2 submerged reef systems, along with underwater mountains and deep sea habitat; it creates a 60-nautical-mile zone around each of the atolls, where commercial fishing will be prohibited. Kanton Island (sometimes called Canton Island), the largest of the atolls in the Phoenix Island archipelago. A narrow ring of sand anchored by scrubby vegetation encircles a turquoise-streaked lagoon. A ring of white surf is breaking on a shallowly submerged, fringing reef that outlines the island’s perimeter. Kanton is the only one of the Phoenix atolls with a permanent population.

Reuters first reported on Chinese development of the airstrip, on May 5, 2021, based on information from I-Kiribati politician Tessie Lambourne, ane opposition lawmaker who was Kiribati's last Ambassador to Taiwan. The site currently has a single usable runway measuring 6,230 feet, though the total unimproved length is closer to 8,000 feet, based on satellite imagery. The claim of Chinese plans is questionable, given the absence of any other associated Chinese development schemes that might be supported by this aviation facility, such as tourist destinations. Belt and Road infrastructure plans are frequently irrational, but seldom completely irrational.

Bonriki International Airport is an international airport in Kiribati, serving as the main gateway to the country. It is located in its capital, South Tarawa, which is a group of islets in the atoll of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands. The airport is the center of the two Kiribati airlines, airline, air Kiribati and 2009-created coral Sun Airways, on both airlines mainly flying domestic routes in the Gilbert Islands. Air Kiribati and coral Sun Airways to offer all 16 other airports in the Gilbert Islands, but not all of these areas are shipped directly from Tarawa. The airport was built in December 1943, US Navy construction battalion and was named "Mullinix field", in honor of rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinix who died in the sinking of the aircraft carrier Liscome Bay on 24 November 1943 after it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off the Gilbert Islands. Almost immediately after the completion of the runway, it became the nucleus of the United States army Air Forces USAAF from Tarawa.