Beijing seeks closer ties with Kiribati, site of Chinese space tracking station

China on Monday said it hoped to expand newly restored ties with the Pacific state of Kiribati, site of a strategic but mothballed Chinese space tracking station, in comments that may further stoke the United States’ anxiety about Beijing’s growing influence.A senior Chinese diplomat said Beijing was “open” to all sorts of projects in Kiribati, an ex-British colony made up mainly of atolls in the central Pacific, in waters dominated by the US and its allies since World War II.Speaking to…