New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in funding to the Cook Islands over disagreements regarding the agreements the smaller Pacific nation made with China, according to officials from New Zealand’s foreign minister’s office.
New Zealand, the Cook Islands’ largest funder, will not consider any new funding for the nation until the relationship improves, a spokesperson for foreign minister Winston Peters informed the Associated Press on Thursday. Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown has not yet responded to a request for comment.
In recent years, relations between other Pacific islands and their larger regional backers, Australia and New Zealand, have been strained over ties with China, as Beijing seeks to increase its influence in the Pacific.
While Cook Islands is self-governing and shares a military force with New Zealand, the latest move by New Zealand’s government reflects rising tensions between the two countries over their differing approaches to managing relations with Beijing.
The NZ$18.2 million ($11 million) funding halt was only mentioned briefly in a government budget document and emerged from a Cook Islands news outlet. This development is likely to prove difficult for New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who is in China for his first official visit and is scheduled to meet President Xi Jinping this week.
The public accounts committee of the Cook Islands parliament expressed concern about the reduction of NZ$10 million ($6 million) in the government’s budget, which was allocated for “core sector support” for the Cook Islands’ health, education, and tourism sectors.
The funds were part of the NZ$200 million directed to the Cook Islands by New Zealand over the past three years as part of an almost 60-year-old arrangement. This arrangement requires consultation by Cook Islands leaders with Wellington on agreements with other parties that might impact the relationship. The deals with China marked the first significant test of these rules.
The Cook Islands, with a population of 15,000, has a large and lucrative exclusive economic zone, and its government is exploring opportunities for deep-sea mining. Cook Islanders can freely live and work in New Zealand, leading to dismay in Wellington when officials discovered a series of agreements Brown signed in February.
Although the agreements didn’t promise security cooperation between Beijing and Cook Islands, they did pledge additional funding from China for infrastructure projects and educational scholarships. Not all the documents Brown signed were made public.
A spokesperson for New Zealand foreign minister Peters stated on Thursday that the agreements highlighted a “gap in understanding” between the governments regarding their special relationship of free association, which included consultation to preserve shared interests.
The “breadth and content” of the deals and the lack of consultation with Wellington prompted a review of funding to the Cook Islands, Peters’ office said. New Zealand has therefore paused these payments and will not consider significant new funding until the Cook Islands government takes concrete steps to repair the relationship and restore trust.
Brown stated in February that the deals did not replace the Cook Islands’ longstanding relationships with New Zealand, Australia, and others but complemented them, ensuring a diversified portfolio of partnerships. The news of the agreements sparked protests in Avarua led by opposition lawmakers.
Mihai Sora, an analyst with the Australia-based thinktank Lowy Institute, stated that the development was an “entirely avoidable consequence of Cook Islands’ strategic flirtations with China.” He added that it was “cute” for the Cook Islands to sign up to a comprehensive strategic partnership with China in 2025 and pretend there was no strategic angle for Beijing, given the mounting evidence of China’s malign strategic intent in the Pacific.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/19/new-zealand-halts-millions-of-dollars-in-aid-to-cook-islands-over-deals-struck-with-china
