The president of Kiribati, Taneti Maamau, and top diplomats from Niue, Tonga, Nauru, Micronesia, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Fiji and Samoa are attending.

Foreign ministers or reps from 11 islands that have diplomatic relations with Beijing will meet in Fujian province for the third China-Pacific Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

Pacific nation Kiribati says it is exploring a deep-sea mining partnership with China, dangling access to a vast patch of Pacific Ocean harbouring coveted metals and minerals.

Taneti Maamau denied he had planned to meet with Peters personally. Kiribati has drawn increasingly close to China since severing diplomatic ties to Taiwan in favor of Beijing in 2019.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Kiribati President Taneti Maamau attend a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on January 6, 2020. - Jason Lee/Reuters ...

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Kiribati President Taneti Maamau attend a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on January 6, 2020. - Jason Lee/Reuters Pacific security partners ...

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Kiribati President Taneti Maamau attend a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on January 6, 2020. Jason Lee/Reuters ...

New Zealand-born Kiribati MP Defends Taneti Maamau Over Snub Of Winston Peters Thursday, 30 January 2025, 9:12 pm Article: RNZ ...

A spokesman for Peters said in an email late on Monday that the foreign minister had planned to travel to Kiribati and meet with its president and Foreign Minister Taneti Maamau earlier this month ...

Peters was scheduled to meet Maamau, who has led the country since 2016, in Kiribati on Jan. 21 and Jan. 22, Peters' office said, but was told a week before the trip that Maamau could not ...