San Francisco Frontiers - Kiribati's pro-China government faces election test

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

Kiribati has drawn closer to China under longtime President Taneti Maamau, who is looking to extend his almost 10-year stint in charge.

Beijing has been sending small teams of police to train Kiribati's stretched forces in the lead-up to the election, a development that has raised eyebrows among Pacific watchers.

"What China is doing is normalising its presence in the region," said Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Blake Johnson.

"We haven't seen any kind of agreement that shows what they are doing there or how many there are," he told AFP.

"So it's all a mystery."

In the past five years, Kiribati's Pacific neighbours, Solomon Islands and Nauru, have also switched diplomatic recognition to China.

The low-lying nation meanwhile faces a raft of economic and environmental challenges, such as the rising sea levels that now regularly taint scarce drinking water supplies.

With waves already encroaching on Kiribati's outer atolls, its capital Tarawa has become one of the world's most packed places.

Coastal erosion and the search for higher ground means Tarawa today has a population density comparable to Tokyo or Hong Kong.

Residents are plagued by contagious diseases and other symptoms of overcrowding.

- Judicial meddling -

Under President Maamau, a former public servant, Kiribati severed diplomatic links with Taiwan in 2019 in favour of Beijing.

A memorandum of understanding followed in 2020, with Chinese President Xi Jinping praising Kiribati for being "on the right side of history".

Maamau's government has also been accused of meddling in the judiciary.

Australian-born high court judge David Lambourne -- who is married to Kiribati's main opposition leader -- was forced to leave the country in May after running afoul of the government.

Officials accused Lambourne of misconduct, charges that his supporters maintain were trumped up as a political ploy.

Kiribati is home to around 120,000 people spread across around 20 inhabited islands and atolls.

The general election has up to two rounds of voting, and the process can stretch on for months.

Citizens separately elect a president from a pool of lawmakers put forward by parliament.

H.King--SFF