CCP–Cook Islands Deal Raises Concerns for New Zealand, US, Australia

The Cook Islands, a small South Pacific nation, signed a controversial agreement with China this month, raising concerns at home and abroad.

The “Joint Action Plan for Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” whose details were officially shared on Feb. 15, is seen as a direct threat for New Zealand—with which the island nation shares military and constitutional ties. Experts said it should ring alarms for the United States and Australia as well.

“It diminishes New Zealand’s relationship—and indeed control—over the Cook Islands, while giving [the Chinese regime] a solid inroad into the nation. This is very much a zero sum game and whatever is China’s advantage is a loss for New Zealand,” retired U.S. Marine officer Grant Newsham told The Epoch Times in an email. Newsham has decades of experience in the Indo-Pacific, including serving as the reserve head of intelligence for Marine Forces Pacific.

The pact, signed by Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown during a week-long visit to Beijing, does not mention any explicit joint security initiatives and includes a deal to mine seabed minerals. Brown told reporters upon his return home that there would be nothing for New Zealand “to be concerned about.”

In response to a question from the Cook Islands News, he said that the country will receive a “one-off grant” of nearly $2.29 million following the deal.

“In terms of grant funding, there has been a grant allocation provided to the Cook Islands for potential projects that we may look at in the future and this amounts to about $4 million [US$2.29 million],” Brown said.

“Our ministries will be looking carefully at where they would look to allocate that funding as part of projects or initiatives that we might want to promote. And at this stage, it’s looking like primarily in the area of renewable energies.”

On the day of his return to Avarua, the capital of the Cook Islands, 400 people protested at the country’s parliament. Protestors displayed signs that read “stay connected to New Zealand,” the Cook Islands News reported.

Three days after the deal disclosure, local media reported that China would co-fund an inter-island vessel with the Cook Islands. Beijing will pay half of the $6 million vessel to set up a nationalized shipping service and improve inter-island connectivity. The development reportedly caused concerns for a private shipping operator already operating in the islands.

Cleo Paskal, a nonresident senior fellow for the Indo-Pacific at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told The Epoch Times that New Zealand thought the island country would never go against its will.

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