New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China.
A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.”
New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific region and the potential threat it poses to their national security. In January, New Zealand also halted new development funding to the Kiribati, an island in Micronesia.
Photo: AFP
We “will also not consider significant new funding until the Cook Islands Government takes concrete steps to repair the relationship and restore trust,” the spokesperson 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 Cook Islands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration said in a statement the country is committed to restoring its high-trust relationship with New Zealand and appreciated the funding support received from Wellington.
News of the freeze comes as New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is in China and ahead of a meeting today with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Premier Li Qiang (李強).
Luxon is expected to raise China’s deepening ties with the Cook Islands and New Zealand’s concerns about Beijing’s behavior in the Pacific region.
“It’s an issue between the Cook Islands and New Zealand,” Luxon told a news conference in Shanghai yesterday, when asked whether Beijing could be unhappy with the decision. “In this case, it’s a comprehensive partnership with China, but our issue is actually with the Cook Islands not being transparent about what it’s negotiating on.”
The Cook Islands is a self-governing country in free association with New Zealand, and Cook Islanders are New Zealand citizens. New Zealand commits to defend the South Pacific nation if asked, and the two countries consult on security, defense and foreign policy issues.
Over the past three years, New Zealand has provided NZ$194.2 million to the Cook Islands through a development program, government data showed.
In February, Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown visited China and signed a strategic partnership spanning areas from deep-sea mining to education scholarships, but excluding security ties.
New Zealand said the Cook Islands did not properly consult on the documents ahead of the signing, thereby breaching the arrangement between the two countries.
Anna Powles, associate professor in security studies at New Zealand’s Massey University, said that using aid as leverage is “punitive and shortsighted,” and will not be regarded positively by other members in the Pacific Islands community.
Previous punitive measures such as sanctions on Fiji following a 2006 coup had little impact, Powles said.
“It also opens the door further for China, and of course China is part of the equation,” she said.
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