New Zealand and Cook Islands sign a defense pact, easing tensions over a China deal

New Zealand FM Winston Peters and Cook Islands PM Mark Brown [AP Photo]

New Zealand and Cook Islands signed a defense and security pact yesterday, easing more than a year of tension between the Pacific nations over Cook Islands’ deepening ties with China.

The fraught diplomatic standoff that prompted Wellington to pause millions of dollars in aid to Avarua was hardly a clash of geopolitical heavyweights: New Zealand has a population of 5 million, while Cook Islands has 15,000 people. But the lengthy freeze gripped Pacific observers because it reflected the struggle confronting tiny island nations with close ties to Western countries such as New Zealand and Australia as they seek to balance their traditional alliances with overtures from Beijing.

In the new declaration, Cook Islands pledged New Zealand would be its “partner of choice regarding defense and security matters,” apparently quashing the prospect, feared by Wellington, of China occupying the role. It resolved “ambiguity” about the two countries’ existing ties, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said.

Diplomatic spat began over China deal

When Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown inked a comprehensive strategic partnership between his country and China during a visit to Beijing in February 2025, it provoked alarm in Wellington because Brown wouldn’t divulge the content of the deal first, a refusal New Zealand officials said could have security implications. Cook Islands is a self-governing country with a 60-year free association relationship to New Zealand, which means it’s defended by New Zealand’s military, and citizens can live and work freely in New Zealand.

The links require Cook Islands leaders to consult with Wellington on deals with other countries that might affect New Zealand. Brown defended his decision not to disclose the contents of his pact with China, which he said was unnecessary under his country’s existing accords with Wellington.

New Zealand — which is Cook Islands’ biggest benefactor — froze millions of dollars in aid over the episode, although it wasn’t a large amount of the total funding that Wellington contributes. That aid would now flow again, Peters told reporters during a visit to Cook Islands on Thursday, where he and Brown signed the new agreement.

“This declaration seeks to remove previous ambiguity about the nature of the relationship between New Zealand and the Cook Islands, especially as it pertains to defense and security,” Peters said.

China yesterday said that the relationship with Cook Islands “is not directed at any third party, nor should it be subject to interference or constraints by any third party,” and that everybody should respect the autonomy of any Pacific islands.

“Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the two countries have always treated each other on equal footing with mutual respect and pursued common development,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a daily briefing in Beijing. “We are willing to deepen practical cooperation with Cook Islands to continuously enhance the well-being of the two peoples.”

Larger powers vie for sway in the Pacific

Cook Islands, an archipelago of 15 islands in the vast South Pacific Ocean, is among many small nations in the region to be courted by Beijing, which has offered aid, loans and deals throughout the Pacific to increase its sway. The sparsely populated South Pacific is considered strategically important and many of its countries, including Cook Islands, have large and lucrative exclusive economic zones, where Brown is exploring prospects for mining of deep sea minerals.

“The strategic environment we face is more complex and contested today than at any other point since New Zealand and the Cook Islands formed our free association relationship in 1965,” Peters said yesterday.

Cook Islanders hold New Zealand passports, which was partly why the deals with China prompted such dismay about security in Wellington. Brown in October 2024 suggested he would consider the creation of a separate Cook Islands passport, a plan he later shelved after he said New Zealand had “bared its teeth” over the matter.

“It’s no secret that our two governments have had a series of serious disagreements since late 2024,” Peters said.

Both leaders, however, dismissed questions about what the declaration between New Zealand and Cook Islands meant for Avarua’s earlier deal with Beijing, which covered matters such as deep sea mining, infrastructure and educational scholarships but didn’t contain explicit security elements. Brown told reporters the agreement with New Zealand didn’t affect his country’s other pacts.

But New Zealand would be “our first port of call on anything to do with defense and security,” Brown said. CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-McLAY, WELLINGTON, MDT/AP