Boost for Beijing: pro-China president wins re-election in Kiribati

Taneti Maamau, who switched Kiribati's allegiance from Taipei to Beijing last year, resoundingly re-elected

Taneti Maamau was re-elected on Monday to a second term as Kiribati's president just two months after losing his parliamentary majority over his surprise move to recognise China and cut official relations with Taiwan.

The flip in September last year, four days after an identical switch by Solomon Islands, left Taiwan with only 15 countries that recognise it as a separate country.