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Anote Tong (in Chinese, 湯安諾; pinyin: Tāng Ānnuò - his family name is of Chinese origin but it is now considered as Gilbertese by Kiribati people) (born June 11, 1952) is the president of Kiribati. He won the election in July 2003 with a slim plurality of votes cast (47.4%) against his brother, Dr. Harry Tong (43.5%) and the private lawyer Banuera Berina (9.1%). The elections were contested by the opposition, due to allegations of electoral fraud but the High Court of Tarawa had confirmed that there was no fraud. He was easily re-elected on October 17, 2007, for a second term (64%).The son of a Chinese migrant who settled in the Gilberts after World War II and of Nei Keke, from the island of Maiana in Kiribati, he went to St Bede's College for his secondary school education, graduated from Canterbury University with a degree in Science, and then gained a Masters in Economics degree from the London School of Economics.
During the campaign, he promised to review the lease of a spy and satellite tracking base used by the People's Republic of China and "to take appropriate actions at the right time." On November 7, he established relations with the Republic of China on Taiwan, which led the People's Republic of China to sever relations and vacate its satellite base nearly a month later.
Tong was overwhelmingly re-elected to his seat in parliament in the August 2007 parliamentary election. On October 17, 2007, he was re-elected as president by a large majority. The opposition boycotted the election due to the exclusion of two opposition candidates, including Tong's brother Harry.
He is married to an I Kiribati woman, Nei Meme, and has seven children.
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