China was hastily dismantling its mid-Pacific satellite-tracking base yesterday following the decision of the tiny Pacific atoll nation of Kiribati to recognize Taiwan, an eyewitness said.
Technicians were seen burning files at the high security compound on Tarawa Atoll in Kiribati, the witness said.
The closure of the tracking station followed the decision of newly-elected President Anote Tong on Nov. 7 to recognize Taipei.
China, which continues to maintain its embassy on Tarawa, said yesterday it would suspend ties next week but by yesterday had withdrawn its doctors from the only hospital and halted construction of a sports stadium.
The most dramatic action has centered on the satellite tracking station at the eastern end of Tarawa.
A nearby resident who did not want to be named reported that a Chinese ship arrived at Tarawa early this week, sparking action at the sprawling satellite base.
"It happened very suddenly," he said.
"It looks like they are dismantling the place. I saw them move one of the dishes down the road," he said.
At the back of the compound the witness could see workers apparently burning files.
"It does look relatively deserted and the gates that are normally closed are currently open. There is no sign of activity, it's as though they have done the bulk of their work quite rapidly and quite covertly in the last couple of days," he said.
Radio Kiribati quoted Chinese Ambassador Ma Shuxue (
In the last week the ambassador has tried to persuade key Kiribati politicians to reverse the decision.
Former president Ieremia Tabai told reporters that Ma had invited him to the embassy in a bid to persuade the government to change its mind.
"They wanted me to try and convince the government to reverse the decision. I told them it was impossible as the government was solid in its support of the decision, and so was the country. It would be very hard to reverse the decision," he said.
During elections last year the Chinese ambassador admitted to giving money to politicians linked to then-president Teburoro Tito.
The satellite station, which China two months ago said played a key role in its historic manned space flight last month, is located on the sparsely populated Bonriki islet near the international airport.
It is around 40 minutes' drive from Betio where around 6,000 Japanese and Americans were killed in 1943 in one of the worst battles of World War II.
The existence of the tracking station was little known until 1999 when a reporter visited it with a former Kiribati Cabinet minister. At the time the dishes were aligned northwards towards the US Army missile testing base at the Marshall Islands' Kwajalein Atoll 1,000km away.
Kwajalein is a vast base for testing ballistic missiles fired from California and is also used for developing the US missile defense system.
Although remote, Kiribati's position on the Equator makes it attractive to the aerospace industry. The giant Sealaunch Boeing-led consortium launches satellites from a converted oil rig near the nation's Kiritimati atoll.
Kiribati has also given Japan's National Space Development Agency permission to build a spaceport for a proposed shuttle project on the atoll.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS