New Zealand stops millions of funds to cook islands above its porcelain ties

Wellington, New Zealand – New Zealand has interrupted millions of dollars in funding in the Cook Islands on “the width and content” of Pacific the smallest nation agreements made with ChinaAnnounced officials of the Minister of Foreign Affairs New Zealand announced on Thursday.

New Zealand, which is the largest funder in the Pacific Nation, will not take into account the new money for the Cook Islands until the relationship improves, spokesperson for the Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters told the Associated Press. Prime Minister of Cook Islands Mark Brown Legislators told legislators on Thursday that the funding was “interrupted, it was interrupted” and minimized the service of the frozen amount.

Relations between the other Pacific islands and their largest Australian regional donors and New Zealand have tripped on links with China in recent years when Beijing has increased its Pacific influence. But the last decision of the government of New Zealand was striking because it reflects a growing friction between two countries with solid constitutional ties – the Cook Islands are autonomous but shares a soldier and passports with New Zealand – on their divergent approaches to manage relations with Beijing.

The news of $ 18.2 million in New Zealand ($ 11 million) interrupted Thursday only appeared when a media from the Cook Islands saw its brief mention in a government budget document. He is likely to be difficult for the New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who is in China for his first official visit and who should meet President Xi Jinping this week.

Beijing has already defended its strategic partnership of the Cook Islands, saying in February that transactions were not intended to Antagonize New Zealand.

In a report submitted to the COOK Islands Parliament this week, the Public Accounts Committee recorded “concern” concerning a reduction of 10 million New Zealand dollars ($ 6 million) in the Government bag, the first known mention of finance freezing. The money was reserved for “basic sector support”, which finances the sectors of health, education and tourism of the Cook Islands, with Wellington audits on the way it is spent.

The money is one of the 200 million NZ dollars directed to the Cook Islands by New Zealand in the last three years as part of a compact of free association of almost 60 years. The links require the consultation of Cook Islands with Wellington on agreements with other countries that may affect New Zealand.

The pacts with China were the first serious test of these rules.

The Cook Islands, 15,000 inhabitants, have a large exclusive and lucrative economic zone, the Government of Brown exploring the prospects for extraction activity in the deep sea. The Icelanders of Cook can live freely and work in New Zealand, which has taken an alarm on national security in Wellington when officials learned the rafts of the agreements that Brown signed in February.

The agreements do not promise security cooperation between Beijing and the Cook Islands, but they have engaged more funding from China for infrastructure and educational scholarships. All the documents that Brown has not signed have been released publicly.

The spokesman for the New Zealand Minister for Foreign Affairs Peters said Thursday that agreements illustrated “a gap in understanding” between governments “on what our special free association relationship required”, which included a consultation to ensure the preservation of common interests.

The “width and content” of transactions and the lack of consultation with Wellington on their subject aroused an examination of the financing of the Cook Islands, said the Peters office.

“New Zealand has therefore interrupted these payments and will also not consider new important funding until the Cook Islands government takes concrete measures to repair the relationship and restore confidence,” said the spokesperson’s statement.

Brown said in February that transactions do not “replace our longtime relationships with New Zealand, Australia and others, but rather complete them, ensuring that we have a diverse partnership portfolio”. The news of the agreements caused demonstrations in Avarua led by opposition legislators.

On Thursday, Brown made a sharp reference to Parliament to the visit of Luxon in China, highlighting the announcements of the leader of New Zealand on the increase in trade with the requirements of visa of Beijing and the most loose visa for Chinese travelers. The head of the Cook Islands said that he had confidence in any agreement that Lounon in Beijing “would constitute no security threats to the inhabitants of the Cook Islands” despite the fact that AVARUA does not know their content.

New Zealand’s latest action was a “entirely avoidable consequence of the strategic flirts of the Cook Islands with China,” said Mihai Sora, analyst of the Australia Lowy Institute.

“It is a bit cute to register for a complete strategic partnership with China in 2025 and to claim that there is no strategic angle for Beijing, given all the growing evidence of the Malignant strategic intention of China in the Pacific,” he said.