Kiribati, a Small Island Nation, Faces a Crucial Election with China as a Key Issue

Aug. 13, 2024, 10:02 a.m.

Read time estimation: 4 minutes.

  7

The remote Pacific Island nation of Kiribati holds a national election on Wednesday at which major issues for voters are the government’s close ties to China and a softer stance on global climate advocacy, competing with cost of living pressures.

Kiribati, with a population of 115,000, holds strategic importance despite its small size due to its proximity to Hawaii and control over a vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing over 3.5 million square kilometers (1.4 million square miles).

President Taneti Maamau, who switched Kiribati’s ties from Taiwan to Beijing in 2019, has won Chinese development support but also courted international controversy after the sacking and deportation of an Australian-born high court judge who is married to Kiribati’s Opposition leader.

Advertisement Kiribati’s loose political groupings are typical of several Pacific Island nations, where many candidates run as individuals and voters directly elect the president later, from a shortlist chosen by the new lawmakers.

This year, an audit by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association suggested that Kiribati implement campaign financing laws. Currently, there is no oversight of election spending. The audit also recommended restoring constitutional free-speech protections.

In February, Reuters reported that Chinese police had started working in Kiribati. This is a sensitive issue for the United States, which signed a treaty in 1983. The treaty requires consultation before Kiribati allows third-party military use of its islands.

China’s police force donated riot control gear last month, pledging to “solidify collaboration in law enforcement and policing”, the Kiribati police said in a statement on Facebook.

Meanwhile, a U.S. request to establish an embassy has been delayed.

Chloe Karea, 27, a travel agent in Tarawa, who recently returned home to Kiribati from studies in Britain, was disappointed to find she could not register for Wednesday’s vote because of identification requirements.

“It’s a really important election and could be pivotal because we have a lot of activity with China. It will show the people’s opinion on what has been happening,” she said in a telephone interview.

Voting is not compulsory in Kiribati, and Wednesday’s ballot is the first of two rounds of voting for members of parliament, to be followed by the vote for president.

Advertisement “A lot of female candidates and lawyers have put themselves up for election,” Karea added.

Kiribati was left without a functional appeals court system in 2022 after the government suspended all three Court of Appeal judges and the chief justice.

A popular government initiative of providing a monthly allowance to eligible voters who are not employed, and a subsidy on copra prices, could sway some voters, Karea remarked.

The election “will let the people say if they are satisfied or not”, said Robert Karora, project manager for the Kiribati Climate Action Network.

“We definitely need a change - so that climate change issues are taken seriously,” he said in a telephone interview.

Advertisement Previous administrations in Kiribati had been a leading voice on the international stage for climate change matters, he noted.

Maamau’s government has backed deep sea mining, an issue that put it at odds with environmental groups.

The Kiribati government did not respond to a request for comment.