Kiribati atoll 2,000 km from Hawaii gets U.S. wharf as China eyes airport

"A Pacific atoll 2,000 miles west of Hawaii appears set for a construction boom, with the
United States and Australia on Thursday pledging a wharf for remote Kanton Island as China

considers plans to revive a World War Two airfield.
Kiribati's population of 115,000 is scattered among 33 atolls over 1.3 million sq miles of ocean, and it has been a base for both U.S. and Chinese space tracking stations at different times.
One atoll, in particular, has recently become a focus for Washington and Beijing, after China resumed diplomatic ties with Kiribati, pronounced "kiribass", in 2019." AP