Pacific island nation Kiribati 'pro-China' president succeeds in 3 consecutive terms

President Tanesh Ma'amau, 64, a leading pro-China leader among Pacific island nations, has succeeded in serving three terms.

In the Kiribati presidential election held on the 25th, President Ma'amau was elected with about 55% of the vote, beating Kaotitaake Korea's candidate, who won 42% of the vote, local media reported.

Chief Justice Tetiro Smirota Kiribati also officially declared President Ma'amau the winner of the presidential election in a statement.

Kiribati, with a population of only 100,000, is where China, which wants to expand its influence in the Pacific, competes with the United States, which wants to block it.

Kiribati is considered a strategically important country as it is a neighbor of the United States about 2,200km south of Hawaii and covers a vast exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 3.5 million square kilometers.

President Ma'amau, who was elected president in 2016, severed ties with Taiwan in 2019 and established diplomatic ties with China.