Anote Tong

Anote Tong is the president of Kiribati. He won the election in 2003 with a slim majority against his brother, Dr. Harry Tong. The elections were contested by the opposition, due to allegations of electoral fraud.

The son of a Chinese migrant who settled in the Gilberts after World War II, he graduated from the London School of Economics.

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 November 7, 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.