Could ties with Kiribati be a boost to China’s space ambitions?

The return of the Pacific island nation of Kiribati to Beijing’s diplomatic fold could give a lift to the Asian giant’s space ambitions.

The islands and atolls that make up Kiribati sprawl across the equator and are just south of the Marshall Islands, an important missile testing ground for the United States.

Because of its location, Kiribati was home to Beijing’s first overseas space tracking station, which played an important role in the Shenzhou manned space missions and the BeiDou navigation systems.

The base, the China Space Tracking, Telemetry and Control Station, was established on South Tarawa Island in 1997, before the two countries broke off ties in 2003 and Kiribati switched recognition to Taipei.

The station tracked many launches, including the Shenzhou V mission that carried the first Chinese astronaut into space on October 15, 2003.

After the split, Beijing packed up the space station but now Kiribati could once again be home to such tracking facilities with its announcement that it was severing relations with Taipei.