Air Kiribati Limited

Both Japan and China constructed Earth-satellite telemetry stations in the late 1990s

A commercial satellite-launch platform located on a converted oil-drilling rig east of Kiritimati began operation in the late 1990s

Kiribati shifted its formal recognition of China to Taiwan in return for economic assistance in 2003

China dismantled its facilities after Kiribati shifted its formal recognition of China to Taiwan in return for economic assistance in 2003

In 2014 the government bought some 8 square miles (20 square km) of land on the Fijian island of Vanua Levu that could serve as a new homeland if one became necessary and that in the interim could be used for supplemental food production