Kiribati minister says country’s ban on diplomats ‘regrettable’ but ‘reasonable’

The head of the Kiribati government delegation to the Pacific Leaders’ Summit in Tonga has played down “viral” news that the Micronesian nation will close its borders to “diplomatic visits” until the end of the year.

The Kiribati Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration said in a press release on August 21 that the suspension of diplomatic and official travel was due to National elections held earlier this monththe government is currently in caretaker mode.

The statement said the notification was issued to inform diplomatic missions in advance to avoid disappointment due to the large number of requests currently received to visit Kiribati.

However, visits for critical, urgent and emergency activities, as well as ongoing work and projects are not affected by this measure, but are subject to the usual approval procedures of the relevant Kiribati offices.

An expert on Pacific politics Recommends suspension of diplomatic travel is to “avoid foreign scrutiny of its government formation process.”

The Associated Press quoted Mihaly Sola of the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, as saying, “This does reflect a pattern of trying to evade international scrutiny, which we have seen under the (Taneti Maamau) government.”

“We think it has gone viral,” Kiribati Education Minister Alexander Teabo told RNZ Pacific on the eve of the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting (PIFLM53) in Nuku’alofa on Sunday.

“We believe we have a foreign policy. We believe our task now is to elect our members of parliament and our government.”

“This is our national and constitutional mandate. We (are not) closing the border,” he said.

Tiab said diplomatic visits would resume once the country completes its electoral process.

“We didn’t find any issues, but we prioritized our election so the new team can get a good start.”

Kiribati’s new parliament will hold its first session on September 13 to elect a new president and form a government.

“I think the diplomatic visit can go ahead… It’s a shame, but that’s how we look at it.

“For us, it makes more sense to do this.”

Thibaud said Kiribati’s political leaders trust the people, adding that in their culture “respect and trust must go hand in hand.”

“We have to respect our people and whoever they elect to government; we believe it is God’s vote,” he said.

Relations with China

Thibaud said the country was following the world’s lead by switching from Beijing to Taipei in 2019.

He responded to a newly elected MP’s statement that the current government has decided to rebuild bilateral relations with China. Proven to be beneficial so far.

Taiwan has been steadily losing allies, with Nauru being the latest Pacific nation to cut ties with the island in January.

Diao said China is like any other development partner.

“We are turning to China to follow the world,” he said.

“You go to the United Nations and you can see what the world is watching, and Kiribati is doing the same. We are watching the world just like other development partners like Australia.”

He said anti-China sentiment was “an agenda coming from somewhere”.

“For us in Kiribati, we pray that China and other countries can work together as partners.”

Question of West Papua and New Caledonia

Mr Tibo said Kiribati’s position was that West Papua was part of the Pacific family.

Fijian Prime Minister Sitiweni Rabuka said he would apologize to other Melanesian leaders for failing to get Indonesia’s consent to visit the province.

At a leaders’ meeting last year, the Melanesian Spearhead Group named Rabuka and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape as “special envoys” to West Papua in the region.

Tiab said he sympathized with the indigenous West Papuans.

“As Pacific Islanders, we know our brothers (from West Papua) are in the Pacific.”

Another prominent topic of discussion at the Tonga summit was the ongoing political crisis in New Caledonia.

He said Kiribati believed “one day” New Caledonia would become independent from France.

“We are lucky. We got our independence,” he added.

Climate Action

Kiribati is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world.

Thibaud said it was important that major emitters make significant contributions to the Pacific Climate Resilience Fund.

Pacific leaders will Operationalization After years of trying and having run out of other ways to get funding, the Pacific Climate Fund was launched in Tonga this week.

They need another $300 million to reach their $500 million goal.

He said climate change meant they had to spend millions of dollars a year to adapt.

He said their budgets were “spent” on addressing (climate-related) issues on remote, scattered islands.

“Climate change is happening and we in the Pacific are at the forefront of its impacts. Sea levels are rising,” he said.

“We have to relocate some schools.”

He said Kiribati faces challenges in material mobilization, communications and transportation due to its remote location.

“With climate change, we believe there should be more funding to meet the challenge.”