Kiribati's decision on Taiwan's passport due to elections: MOFA

Taipei, Aug. 13 (CNA) Kiribati's recent decision to reportedly not accept Taiwan's passport may have been made because of its upcoming general elections, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said Tuesday.

Eric Chen (陳俊吉), deputy head of MOFA's East Asia and Pacific Affairs, said MOFA has been checking with Kiribati to see whether it has stopped accepting the passport of the Republic of China (ROC), the official name of Taiwan, after seeing a complaint in June.

A Taiwanese national surnamed Huang (黃), who tried to visit Kiribati in mid-June, wrote on his Facebook page at the time that an immigration official told him the Pacific island country no longer accepted Taiwan's passport and therefore denied his visa application.

Due to the lack of official relations, Chen said MOFA looked into the situation through a third party, as Kiribati authorities have not made any public announcement to date on the decision not to accept the ROC passport, Chen said.

Kiribati severed ties with the ROC and switched diplomatic recognition to the People's Republic of China in 2019.

MOFA has since learned that Kiribati has toughened up its screening of all inbound foreign visitors over the past few months ahead of its parliamentary elections being held on Aug. 14.

It now believes the June incident when the Taiwanese national was denied a visa to Kiribati was not only targeting ROC passport holders, Chen said.

He reiterated MOFA's call for Taiwanese passport holders to postpone travel to Kiribati given the uncertainty of whether they will be able to enter the island country.

Fewer than a dozen Taiwanese travel to Kiribati a year, according to sources.

The people of Kiribati will go to the polls on Wednesday in the first of two votes for a new government in a process that could last months.

The Pacific nation, home to around 120,000 people spread across about 20 inhabited islands and atolls, has drawn closer to China under longtime President Taneti Maamau, who is looking to extend his almost 10-year stint in charge.

Beijing has been sending small teams of police to train Kiribati's stretched forces in the lead-up to the election, a development that has raised eyebrows among observers of the Pacific region.