Pro-China Kiribati president loses majority over switch from Taiwan
China’s diplomatic ambitions in the Pacific suffered a setback on Wednesday when the party that switched recognition from Taiwan to China last year lost its majority in parliament over its handling of the move.
In the second round of parliamentary elections, the governing party and allies won 22 seats out of 45, dealing a blow to President Taneti Maamau, who previously enjoyed a comfortable majority of 31.
The rest of the seats were won by members or allies of two other parties: one of which has pledged to switch back to Taiwan, and another made up of MPs who left the governing party to create a new opposition party last fall over Maamau’s handling of the switch.
snip
Kiribati is thought to be of interest partly due to its location – some islands are just 700 km from US military installations – and also due to Christmas Island, the world’s biggest atoll with a land mass of nearly 400 sq km. It lies just 2,150 km from Honolulu, home of the US Pacific Command and is far to the east of existing port facilities available to the Chinese navy.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/24/pro-china-kiribati-president-loses-majority-over-switch-from-taiwan
= new reply since forum marked as read
