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22h ago

New Zealand Suspends $18.2 Million Aid to Cook Islands Over China Pact

The funding freeze follows Beijing’s comprehensive strategic partnership with the Cook Islands, which New Zealand says breached their constitutional consultation obligations.

A fisherman casts his net into the lagoon on the main island of Rarotonga, in the Pacific Ocean state of the Cook Islands on June 13, 2025.
A view from the ocean of a small town, boats at dock and forest-covered hills.
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Overview

  • New Zealand halted NZ$18.2 million in core sector support until the Cook Islands government takes concrete steps to rebuild bilateral trust.
  • Wellington argues the Cook Islands broke free association rules by signing a strategic partnership with China in February without prior consultation.
  • The February agreement covers deep-sea mining, regional cooperation and economic projects but explicitly excludes security or defence ties.
  • Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown insists the deals complement relationships with New Zealand and Australia and rejects claims of breaching control provisions.
  • Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is meeting President Xi Jinping in Beijing under the shadow of the aid suspension and its wider Pacific implications.