Kiribati says China-backed Pacific airstrip project for civilian use

The Pacific island nation of Kiribati said Thursday that China-backed plans to upgrade an airstrip on a remote island about 3,000km southwest of Hawaii were a non-military project designed to improve transport links and bolster tourism. The project involves revamping a near 2km runway on the tiny island of Kanton, a coral atoll strategically located midway between Asia and the Americas, deep in territory that has been aligned with the US and its allies since World War Two. "The Kiribati Government has clarified the rehabilitation project for Kanton Island stating that the project is purely initiated for civilian use only," the government said . The statement said that the Chinese government had provided grant support for a feasibility study. The airstrip, formerly a major stop on commercial trans-Pacific airline flights and a military aircraft base during World War Two, is now rarely used. The island has about two dozen residents.<br/>