Facing Wellington, the Cook Islands defended its partnership with China

Because the Cook Islands reached a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with Beijing at the beginning of the year, the New Zealand government suspended aid to the Cook Islands on Thursday. In response, Prime Minister Mark Brown of this South Pacific island country defended the strategic agreement signed by his country with China on Friday, stating that the agreement did not "damage" the sovereignty of the Cook Islands.

In February this year, the Pacific island nation with a population of 17,000 announced a partnership with Beijing. Agence France-Presse pointed out that in recent years, Beijing has been seeking to strengthen its influence in the South Pacific region. This partnership agreement involves trade and seabed mining.

Prime Minister Brown stated that these agreements "did not damage the sovereignty of the Cook Islands."

Previously, after criticizing this agreement multiple times, New Zealand suspended funding assistance to the Cook Islands on Thursday. According to the words of the New Zealand foreign minister, New Zealand will not resume assistance until "concrete measures" are taken to restore trust. As a result, nearly 10 million euros of planned development assistance was suspended. Over the past three years, the New Zealand government provided 194 million New Zealand dollars, approximately 100 million euros, to the Cook Islands.

Prime Minister Brown insisted that the Cook Islands remained "committed" to maintaining close ties with New Zealand and hoped to strengthen this partnership. He continued, "We are grateful for the support New Zealand has given us over the years and will continue to cherish and prioritize mutual respect, openness, and forward-looking dialogue."

On Friday, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held talks with Chinese national leaders in Beijing. China told New Zealand that there were "no fundamental conflicts of interest" between China and New Zealand.

This South Pacific island country has a "freely associated" agreement with Wellington, under which Wellington provides support in diplomacy and defense as well as budgetary assistance to the Cook Islands. Residents of the Cook Islands hold New Zealand citizenship and can travel abroad with a New Zealand passport.

Source: rfi

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1835539598001347/

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