Editing Kiribati (section)

===Foreign relations===
{{Main|Foreign relations of Kiribati}}

Kiribati maintains close relations with its Pacific neighbours, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Fiji. The first three of these provide the bulk of the country's foreign aid. [[Taiwan]] and Japan also have specified-period licences to fish in Kiribati's waters.<ref name="US State Dept">{{citation-attribution|1={{cite web |title=Background Notes: Kiribati, May 1996|url=https://1997-2001.state.gov/background_notes/kiribati_0596_bgn.html|publisher=U.S. State Department|year=1996|access-date=6 February 2018}} }}</ref> There are three resident diplomatic missions headquartered in [[South Tarawa]]: the Embassies of the [[Republic of China]] (Taiwan) until 2019, replaced by [[China|People's Republic of China]] in 2020 and the High Commissions of [[List of Australian High Commissioners to Kiribati|Australia]] and [[New Zealand]]. Since 2022, there have been talks of opening a [[List of diplomatic missions of the United States|US Embassy]].<ref>{{cite web |date=2022-07-13 |title=Kamala Harris announces 2 new U.S. embassies in major Pacific push |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/kamala-harris-pacific-new-us-embassies-tonga-kiribati-rcna37971 |access-date=2024-04-30 |publisher=NBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |agency=Reuters |date=2023-05-03 |title=US set to open Tonga embassy in May as Pacific push ramps up |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/03/us-set-to-open-tonga-embassy-in-may-as-pacific-push-ramps-up |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> The current U.S. Embassy responsible for Kiribati is located in Suva, [[Fiji]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Homepage |url=https://fj.usembassy.gov/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=U.S. Embassy in Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, and Tuvalu |language=en-US}}</ref>

In November 1999, Kiribati agreed to allow Japan's [[National Space Development Agency]] to lease land on [[Kiritimati]] (formerly Christmas Island) for 20 years, on which to build a [[spaceport]].<ref name=SpaceDaily2000>{{cite news |title=Kiribati Gives Okay to Christmas Island Spaceport |url=http://www.spacedaily.com/news/japan-hopex-00d.html |newspaper=Space Daily News |date=11 May 2000 |access-date=28 April 2018}}</ref> The agreement stipulated that Japan was to pay US$840,000 per year and would also pay for any damage to roads and the environment.<ref name=SpaceDaily2000 /> A Japanese-built downrange [[tracking station]] operates on Kiritimati<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fdsn.org/station_book/IU/XMAS/xmas.html |title=FDSN Station Info – XMAS |publisher = Fdsn.org |date=22 August 1997 |access-date=14 May 2010}}</ref> and an abandoned airfield on the island was designated as the landing strip for a proposed reusable unmanned space shuttle called [[HOPE-X]]. HOPE-X, however, was eventually cancelled by Japan in 2003.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.spaceindustry.com.au/Documents/nb2016-06.pdf |title=Cancelled Projects: HOPE and HOPE-X |last=Herman |first=Jos |date=June 2016 |newspaper=Tiros Space Information News Bulletin |volume=41 |number=9 |page=2 |location=Australia |access-date=28 April 2018 |archive-date=12 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312084048/http://spaceindustry.com.au/Documents/nb2016-06.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:五月二十三日總統接見吉里巴斯總統馬茂(Taneti Maamau)伉儷乙行 (27208262585).jpg|thumb|Kiribati President [[Taneti Maamau]] meets with Taiwanese President [[Tsai Ing-wen]] on 23 May 2016.]]
As one of the world's most vulnerable nations to the [[effects of global warming]], Kiribati has been an active participant in international diplomatic efforts relating to climate change, most importantly the [[UNFCCC]] conferences of the parties (COP). Kiribati is a member of the [[Alliance of Small Island States]] (AOSIS), an intergovernmental organisation of low-lying coastal and small island countries.
Established in 1990, the main purpose of the alliance is to consolidate the voices of [[Small Island Developing States]] (SIDS) to address global warming. AOSIS has been very active from its inception, putting forward the first draft text in the [[Kyoto Protocol]] negotiations as early as 1994.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Depledge |first=Joanna |date=August 2000 |title=TRACING THE ORIGINS OF THE KYOTO PROTOCOL: AN ARTICLE-BY-ARTICLE TEXTUAL HISTORY |url=https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/tp/tp0200.htm |access-date=2025-02-20 |website=United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change}}</ref>

In 2009, President Tong attended the [[Climate Vulnerable Forum]] ([[Climate Vulnerable Forum|V11]]) in the [[Maldives]], with 10 other countries that are [[Climate change vulnerability|vulnerable to climate change]], and signed the Bandos Island declaration on 10 November 2009, pledging to show moral leadership and commence greening their economies by voluntarily committing to achieving [[carbon neutrality]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

In November 2010, Kiribati hosted the [[Tarawa Climate Change Conference]] (TCCC) to support the president of Kiribati's initiative to hold a consultative forum between vulnerable states and their partners. The conference strove to create an enabling environment for multi-party negotiations under the auspices of the UNFCCC. The conference was a successor event to the Climate Vulnerable Forum.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.climate.gov.ki/tarawa_climate_change_conference.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202030155/http://www.climate.gov.ki/tarawa_climate_change_conference.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 February 2012 |title=Climate Change in Kiribati, Tarawa Climate Change Conference Issues Ambo Declaration |publisher=Office of the President of Kiribati |date=12 November 2010 |access-date=28 April 2018}}</ref> The ultimate objective of TCCC was to reduce the number and intensity of fault lines between parties to the COP process, explore elements of agreement between the parties and thereby to support Kiribati's and other parties' contribution to [[COP16]] held in [[Cancun]], Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December 2010.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

In 2013, President Tong spoke of climate-change induced [[sea level rise]] as "inevitable". "For our people to survive, then they will have to migrate. Either we can wait for the time when we have to move people en masse or we can prepare them—beginning from now ..."<ref>{{cite news |last = Lagan |first = Bernard |title = Australia urged to formally recognise climate change refugee status |url = https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/apr/16/australia-climate-change-refugee-status |access-date = 29 April 2013 |newspaper = The Guardian |date = 16 April 2013 }}</ref> In New York in 2014, per ''[[The New Yorker]]'', President Tong told ''[[The New York Times]]'' that "according to the projections, within this century, the water will be higher than the highest point in our lands".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/president-tong-and-his-disappearing-islands|title=President Tong and His Disappearing Islands|author=Betsy Morais|newspaper=The New Yorker|date=8 June 2014|access-date=22 August 2014}}</ref> In 2014, President Tong finalised the purchase of a {{cvt|20|km2}} stretch of land on [[Vanua Levu]], one of the larger Fiji islands, 2,000&nbsp;km away. A move described by Tong as an "absolute necessity" should the country's territory be completely submerged under water.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/01/kiribati-climate-change-fiji-vanua-levu|title=Besieged by the rising tides of climate change, Kiribati buys land in Fiji|last=Caramel|first=Laurence|date=30 June 2014|newspaper=The Guardian|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|access-date=25 August 2016}}</ref>

In 2013, attention was drawn to a claim of a Kiribati man of being a [[Environmental migrant#Asia and the Pacific|"climate change refugee"]] under the [[Convention relating to the Status of Refugees]] (1951).<ref name=ABC>{{cite web| title= Pacific Islander Ioane Teitiota fails in bid to be first climate change refugee| work= ABC News|date=27 November 2013|url= http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-26/kiribati-ioane-teitoa-refugee-new-zealand-climate-change/5117848|access-date=11 February 2015}}</ref> However, this claim was determined by the New Zealand High Court to be untenable.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.vernonrive.co.nz/PointSource/Climate_refugees_revisited_a_closer_look_at_the_Tuvalu_deci.aspx |title='Climate refugees' revisited: a closer look at the Tuvalu decision |publisher=Point Source |date=14 August 2014 |author=Vernon Rive |access-date=11 February 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150211073607/http://www.vernonrive.co.nz/PointSource/Climate_refugees_revisited_a_closer_look_at_the_Tuvalu_deci.aspx |archive-date=11 February 2015 }}</ref> The New Zealand Court of Appeal also rejected the claim in a [[Teitiota v Chief Executive Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment|2014 decision]].
On further appeal, the New Zealand Supreme Court confirmed the earlier adverse rulings against the application for refugee status, but rejected the proposition "that environmental degradation resulting from climate change or other natural disasters could never create a pathway into the Refugee Convention or protected person jurisdiction".<ref name="TSC">{{cite NZLII
 | litigants = Teitiota v Chief Executive of Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
 | court     = NZSC
 | year      = 2015
 | num       = 107
 | date  =20 July 2015
}}</ref> In 2017, Kiribati signed the UN [[treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-9&chapter=26&clang=_en |title=Chapter XXVI: Disarmament&nbsp;– No. 9 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons |publisher=United Nations Treaty Collection |date=7 July 2017}}</ref>

On 20 September 2019, the government of Kiribati restored its diplomatic relationship with the People's Republic of China and simultaneously stopped its diplomatic relationship with Taiwan.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3780704 |title = Kiribati switches recognition to China, Taiwan loses second Pacific ally in one week|author= Teng Pei-ju|work = Taiwan News|date = 20 September 2019}}</ref> China offered a 737 aircraft and ferries to Kiribati for the decision, according to Taiwan's foreign minister, [[Joseph Wu]].<ref>{{Cite web |url= https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1W50DI |title= Taiwan says China lures Kiribati with airplanes after losing another ally |work=Reuters |date=20 September 2019}}</ref>

====Peace Corps====
From 1973 until 2008, a total of almost 500 [[Peace Corps|US Peace Corps]] volunteers were based on the Islands, as many as 45 in a given year. Activities included assisting in the planning, design and construction of wells, libraries, and other infrastructure, and agricultural, environmental, and community health education. In 2006, volunteer placement was significantly scaled down due to the reduction of consistent air transportation to the outer islands; it was later ended because the associated ability to provide medical care to volunteers could not be assured.<ref>{{cite web |title=Peace Crops reducing current program in Kiribati |url=https://peacecorpsonline.typepad.com/peacecorpsonline/kiribati/ |date=23 July 2007 |access-date=24 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Peace Corps to End Programs in Kiribati |url=http://www.pireport.org/articles/2008/07/04/peace-corps-end-programs-kiribati |date=4 July 2008 |access-date=24 June 2021}}</ref> <!--Since the Peace Corps is a program of the US State Dept, Foreign Relations seems to be the best section for it.--> In July 2022, US [[Vice President Harris]] announced plans to build a new embassy in Kiribati and Tonga and reestablish the Peace Corps presence in the region.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kamala Harris announces 2 new U.S. embassies in major Pacific push |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/kamala-harris-pacific-new-us-embassies-tonga-kiribati-rcna37971 |agency=Associated Press |publisher=NBC News |date=12 July 2022 |access-date=16 July 2022}}</ref>