New Zealand is reconsidering all development funding to the aid-dependent island nation of Kiribati, following a diplomatic snub from the leader of the former ally of Taiwan, government officials said.
The unusual move to review all finance to Kiribati was prompted by the abrupt cancelation of a planned meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday last week between Kiribati President Taneti Maamau and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Winston Peters, Peters’ office said late on Monday.
It followed months of growing frustration from Australia and New Zealand — jointly responsible for more than one-third of overseas development finance to Kiribati in 2022 — about a lack of engagement with the island nation.
Photo: Reuters
Tensions have risen since Kiribati in 2019 switched ties from Taiwan to China and signed a series of bilateral deals with Beijing, including hosting Chinese police. Since the shift, China has increased aid to Kiribati.
A spokesman for Peters said that about a week prior to Peters’ departure, the office was told Maamau was no longer available to receive him.
“This was especially disappointing because the visit was to be the first in over five years by a New Zealand minister to Kiribati — and was the result of a months-long effort to travel there,” he said, adding that “the lack of political-level contact makes it very difficult for us to agree joint priorities for our development program.”
“For this reason, we are reviewing our development program in Kiribati. The outcomes of that review will be announced in due course. Other aspects of the bilateral relationship may also be impacted,” he said.
That might also affect visa allocations for i-Kiribati, who want to travel to New Zealand to work in seasonal jobs such as fruit picking, he said.
The acrimony between the nations reflects concern from Western powers that their interests in the region are being undermined as China woos Pacific leaders with offers of funding and loans.
That has provoked a contest for influence over Kiribati, an atoll nation that is among the world’s most imperiled by rising sea levels. Its proximity to Hawaii and its vast exclusive economic zone — the world’s 12th-largest — have boosted its strategic importance.
Kiribati, one of the world’s most aid-dependent nations, relies heavily on international support, with foreign assistance accounting for 18 percent of its national income in 2022, data from Australian think tank the Lowy Institute showed.
About 10 percent of development finance that year came from New Zealand — which contributed NZ$102 million (US$57.75 million) between 2021 and last year, official figures showed.
However, officials in Wellington and Canberra have expressed frustration over a lack of engagement from Tarawa regarding development projects. Frictions escalated when Kiribati suspended all visits from foreign officials in August last year, citing a need to focus on the government formation process after elections that month.
The government of Kiribati did not respond to a request for comment, although Kiribati Minister of Education Alexander Teabo yesterday told Radio New Zealand that Maamau had a long-standing engagement on his home island — and denied a snub.
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