President of Kiribati Anote Tong yesterday invited visiting Taiwanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) to his native Maiana, an island located east of the country's capital Tarawa, for a festival attended by local village chiefs and tribal leaders.
Residents on Maiana, which means "land east of Tarawa," welcomed Chien and his delegation, consisting of ministry officials and reporters, with traditional dancing, singing and local delicacies.
Still preserving their primitive lifestyles, residents on Maiana swarmed into the seaside conference venue where men and women dressed in coconut leaves and traditional costumes performed for Chien and his delegation.
PHOTO: MELODY CHEN, TAIPEI TIMES
According to the Taiwan embassy in Kiribati, around 2,000 people now lived on the island, who made their living chiefly by selling dry coconuts, sea cucumber and taro. Money remitted home by their overseas relatives is another key economic pillar of Maiana.
The journey from Tarawa to Maiana, however, marked one of the biggest difficulties Kiribati faces in attempting to develop the country's transportation.
While Tong, Chien and high-level officials flew from Tarawa to Maiana in a helicopter, the rest of the Taiwanese delegation left Tarawa at 4:30am to take a boat to Maiana.
The Kiribati government dispatched the country's only patrol boat, RKS Teanoai, to ferry the delegation to Maiana.
The sea journey lasted about two hours.
As the immediate sea surrounding Maiana is shallow, the patrol boat had to anchor several kilometers away from the island. On the choppy sea, the delegates climbed down from the patrol boat via rope ladders to smaller boats that would carry them to the island.
However, even the smaller boats were grounded before they reached the shore. The delegates had to disembark the boats to wade hundreds of meters in knee-deep waters to get to the shore.
Inspector Tataai Tataa, commanding officer of the Teanoai, said that although transportation problems have not hampered Kiribati's communication with other Pacific island nations, it has severely affected the rest of the world's interest in visiting Kiribati.
Having traveled to many countries, including Taiwan, the 31-year-old inspector's main job is to hunt foreign ships that conduct illegal fishing in Kiribati waters.
Foreign ships cannot fish in Kiribati waters without obtaining licenses issued by the Kiribati government. Kiribati's rich fishing grounds have drawn a lot of illegal fishing, said Tataa.
Although Kiribati owns great fishing resources, its government finds it difficult to develop the country's fishing industry. "Our problem is that we are very poor," said Tataa.
The Kiribati government is trying to procure more patrol boats to guard the country's waters, added Tataa. Australia, he said, has been helping Kiribati train marine officers. While Chien praised Tong's commitment to developing Kiribati, Tataa said most people in Kiribati believed their government has made a right decision to switch ties from Beijing to Taipei last November.
Taiwan and Kiribati's cooperation programs are vital to the livelihood of the Kiribati people. "Developing our country is our goal. People here think establishing ties with Taiwan is a good plan," Tataa said.
Also See Story:
Kiribati's chief justice lauds social security
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
COMPLIANCE: The SEF has helped more than 3,900 Chinese verify documents, indicating that most of those affected are willing to cooperate, the MAC said More than 3,100 spouses from China have submitted proof of renunciation of their Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The National Immigration Agency has since April issued notices to spouses to submit proof that they had renounced their Chinese household registration on or before June 30 or their Taiwanese household registration would be revoked. People having difficulties obtaining such a document can request an extension of the deadline or submit a written affidavit in lieu of it. The council said it would hold a briefing at 2:30pm on Friday at the immigration agency’s Taichung office in cooperation with the
The government-funded human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is to be expanded to boys at junior-high school starting in September, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. The Taiwan Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, the Taiwan Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Taiwan Immunization Vision and Strategy, the Infectious Diseases Society of Taiwan, the Taiwan Head and Neck Society, the Formosa Cancer Foundation and the National Alliance of Presidents of Parents Associations held a joint news conference in Taipei yesterday to raise public awareness about the risks of HPV infection, regardless of gender. Invited to give an address, HPA Director-General Wu Chao-chun
RSS