| Anote Tong | |
|---|---|
| President of Kiribati | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 10 July 2003 |
|
| Vice President | Teima Onorio |
| Preceded by | Tion Otang (Acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 11 June 1952 Tabuaeran, Gilbert and Ellice Islands (now Kiribati) |
| Political party | Pillars of Truth |
| Spouse(s) | Meme Tong |
| Alma mater | University of Canterbury London School of Economics |
Anote Tong (Chinese: 汤安诺; pinyin: Tāng Ānnuò; born 11 June 1952 in Tabuaeran, Gilbert and Ellice Islands) is an I-Kiribati politician with Chinese heritage. He is the current President of Kiribati. He won the election in July 2003 with a slim plurality of votes cast (47.4%) against his brother, Dr. Harry Tong (43.5%) and the private lawyer Banuera Berina (9.1%).[1] The elections were contested by the opposition, due to allegations of electoral fraud but the High Court of Tarawa had confirmed that there was no fraud. He was easily re-elected on 17 October 2007, for a second term (64%).
The son of a Chinese migrant who settled in the Gilberts after World War II and of Nei Keke, from the island of Maiana in Kiribati,[2] he went to St Bede's College for his secondary school education, graduated from Canterbury University with a degree in Science, and then gained a Masters in Economics degree from the London School of Economics.[3]
During the campaign, he promised to review the lease of a spy and satellite tracking base used by the People's Republic of China and "to take appropriate actions at the right time." On 7 November, he established relations with the Republic of China on Taiwan, which led the People's Republic of China to sever relations and vacate its satellite base nearly a month later.
Tong was overwhelmingly re-elected to his seat in parliament in the August 2007 parliamentary election.[4] On 17 October 2007, he was re-elected as president by a large majority. The opposition boycotted the election due to the exclusion of two opposition candidates, including Tong's brother Harry.[5]
He is married to an I Kiribati woman, Nei Meme, and has seven children.
President Tong has attracted international attention by warning that his country may become uninhabitable by the 2050s due to rising sea levels and salination provoked by climate change. Tong has stated on several occasions that Kiribati may cease to exist altogether, and that its entire population of 94,000 may need to be resettled as climate refugees. In June 2008, he stated that Kiribati may already have reached "the point of no return"; he added: "To plan for the day when you no longer have a country is indeed painful but I think we have to do that."[6][7][8][9][10][11]
President Tong has sought possibilities for ultimately relocating the entire population of his country to other countries. His stated plan is for the people of Kiribati to "receive job training and then seek skilled jobs in other nations", so that they may become productive members of their host society, and avoid becoming merely "environmental refugees". "The plan has already begun to be implemented, with small groups of nurses going to Australia for training and other workers to New Zealand."[12]
Specifically, Tong's government has "signed on to New Zealand’s Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme and Australia’s Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme (PSWPS), which provide seasonal employment opportunities in fruit-picking and horticulture industries". Only small numbers of I-Kiribati have been able to benefit so far. Tong has also reached an agreement with Australia to set up a Kiribati-Australia Nurses Initiative, whereby about eighty I-Kiribati receive nursing training in Australia, with an aim to "attain Australian nursing qualifications and industry experience". "[S]ome will go back to Kiribati to work the health system, but others will stay in Australia to send remittances home to households and community."[13]
So far, however, no country has agreed to relocate substantial numbers of I-Kiribati. President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia did tell President Tong that there was "plenty of room" in his country for I-Kiribati migrants, but he died suddenly in office in August 2008.[14]
In 2008, his government declared 150,000 square miles (390,000 km2) "of [the] Phoenix Islands marine area a fully protected marine park, making it off limits to fishing and other extractive uses". This, the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, was made a United Nations World Heritage Site. Its "rich biodiversity includ[es] an abundance of healthy corals, big sharks, groupers, tuna, giant clams and other critters that have been depleted in much of the rest of the world". Tong explained that it was intended as "a significant contribution to the world community in the hope they would also act".[15][16]
Declaring himself "extremely disappointed" by the outcome of the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Tong has "call[ed] a meeting in November [2010] in Kiribati, inviting large countries—the big polluters—and have them meet with the victims, the most vulnerable states: ours and the Marshall Islands and the Maldives".[17]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Tion Otang Acting |
President of Kiribati 2003–present |
Incumbent |
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