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By Kirsty Needham
SYDNEY (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard and Kiribati police boarded two Chinese fishing boats during a patrol against illegal fishing in the Pacific Islands nation's vast exclusive economic zone this month but found no issues aboard, a coast guard official said.
The United States is seeking a bigger role for its coast guard in helping remote Pacific Islands nations monitor millions of kilometres of ocean - a rich tuna fishing ground - a move that also boosts surveillance as a rivalry with China over security ties in the region intensifies.
Reuters reported on Friday that Chinese police are working in Kiribati, with uniformed officers involved in community policing and a crime database program.
Kiribati, a nation of 115,000 residents, is considered strategic despite being small, as it is relatively close to Hawaii and controls a 3.5 million square kilometre (1.35 million square mile) exclusive economic zone. It is also host to a Japanese satellite tracking station.
Washington has flagged plans to build an embassy in Kiribati to compete with China, but has not yet done so.
Kiribati police officers were on patrol with the U.S. Coast Guard as "ship riders" for the first time in a almost a decade, between Feb. 11-16, a U.S. Coast Guard Guam spokeswoman said.
"The two People's Republic of China (PRC) flagged fishing vessels were boarded as part of routine maritime law enforcement activities to ensure compliance with regulations within the Kiribati Exclusive Economic Zone," the spokeswoman said in an emailed comments.
No concerns were reported during the boardings, she said.
"Both Kiribati officers from the Kiribati Police Maritime Unit and U.S. Coast Guard officers were involved in the boarding operations. This collaboration underscores the partnership between the two nations in upholding maritime law and good governance," she added.
The Kiribati president's office and Chinese embassy did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Kiribati's acting police commissioner, Eeri Aritiera, told Reuters last week that Chinese police on the island work with local police.
China built a large embassy on the main island, Tarawa, after Kiribati switched ties from Taiwan to Beijing in 2019.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
