New Zealand halts aid to Cook Islands over China deals
WELLINGTON: New Zealand's government halted aid to close partner the Cook Islands on Thursday because of a row over agreements the Pacific island nation struck with China.
New Zealand "paused" the payments and would not resume them until the Cook Islands took "concrete steps" to restore trust, a spokesman for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
The self-governing Cook Islands, a country of 17,000 people, has a "free association" relationship with its former colonial ruler New Zealand, which provides budgetary assistance as well as help on foreign affairs and defence.
Cook Islands caught New Zealand off guard in February when it signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership agreement with China covering deep-sea mining, regional cooperation and economic issues.
Peters' spokesman pointed to the "lack of consultation" surrounding the "agreements signed by the Cook Islands and China" as a reason for the aid pause.
"Trust and meaningful engagement are fundamental to free association," he said.
New Zealand provided US$116 million (NZ$194 million) to the Cook Islands over the past three years, according to government figures.
It has paused a planned US$11 million development assistance payment for the next financial year.
"New Zealand will also not consider significant new funding until the Cook Islands Government takes concrete steps to repair the relationship and restore trust," Peters' spokesman said.
"New Zealand hopes that steps will be taken swiftly to address New Zealand's concerns so that this support can be resumed as soon as possible."
The pause in funding comes as New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday morning, Peters said the funding pause was not timed to coincide with Luxon's trip to China.
Peters said he discussed New Zealand's concerns about the Cook Islands agreement during a meeting with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi earlier this year.
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Brown survived a no-confidence vote in February over the deal with China, blaming "misinformation" from New Zealand for destabilising his country.
"It becomes very clear this is not about consultation. This is about control," he said at the time.
Former Australian diplomat Mihai Sora said Cook Islands was being "a bit cute."
"And it's not surprising that New Zealand has reacted in such a way," the Lowy Institute analyst told AFP.
"New Zealand obviously wants to repair its relationship with Cook Islands. It wants to block China from gaining increased strategic access to the Cook Islands, but also essentially to its immediate neighbourhood.
"But if Cook Islands pushes closer to China in a way that threatens New Zealand's national security, it's really not possible to have such intimate ties."
New Zealand also announced this year it would review aid to climate-threatened Pacific nation Kiribati, one of China's closest friends in the region.
The review came after Kiribati's president brushed off a planned meeting with Peters at the last minute.
"This was especially disappointing because the visit was to be the first in over five years by a New Zealand minister to Kiribati," Peters' office said at the time.
"For this reason, we are reviewing our development programme in Kiribati."
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