Kiribati’s Pro-China Government Faces Election Test

Kiribati's President Taneti Maamau listens during a signing ceremony for a Millennium Challenge Corporation Challenge investment at the U.S. Department of State on September 25, 2023 in Washington, DC. Brendan Smialowski / AFP

Pacific nation Kiribati will begin voting in a general election this week, a poll that will test the strengthening ties between China and the government of the climate-threatened archipelago.

The vote on Wednesday in tiny Kiribati—a country of scattered atolls and islands—has the potential to stir ripples across the South Pacific.

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