China and Cook Islands on Friday signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement, but the lack of transparency around the details has worried the nearest Democratic ally of New Zealand, South Pacific State.
While the details of the agreement are not clear, public statements from Cook Islands Prime Minister Mar Mark Brown and the islands of the islands indicated that Cook Islands and China wild look deep sea mining, growth in infrastructure, climate flexibility such as cooperation in areas such as climate flexibility Look to deepen. , And economic cooperation.
The agreement signed is part of the seven -day diplomatic tour of Brown, during which he visited several Chinese research institutes and met the Chinese premiere Lee Kiang in the northern city of Harbin.
Lee said Beijing “is ready to deepen political mutual confidence and expand practical cooperation with Cook Islands, while Brown said that his country would” “climate change and multilateral coordination in other areas, and continuously , Will push for intensive development.
Analysts say the agreement is the latest attempt by Beijing, which to increase its influence in the Pacific amidst increasing tension between Cook Islands and Kiribati to increase its influence in the Pacific region and find Democratic colleagues as New Zealand and Australia.
“China has benefited from the participation below the long -standing participation in the Pacific region as it wants to put itself in position as an alternative partner,” Anna Pavls said, the professor in a security study at Masi University, New Zealand, Associates Associates To do.
New Zealand has expressed serious concern about the deal between Cook Islands and China, criticizing the South Pacific country for transparency and lack of consultation with Wellington on details.
Cook Islands has a free association agreement with New Zealand, which allows it to manage IT foreign affairs, requesting it to consult Wellington on issues related to the firing policy.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said at a news conference on Monday, “Under our constitutional arrangements, we expect, you know, defense and security matters should be discussed transparently betty partners. Asking here. “
Despite New Zealand’s concerns, Brown features conversations around the deal. Directed as “what is the best for Cook Islands” and to join the agreement with China for Wellington ” Not required “.
Meanwhile, China said that Cooks with Cook Islands “do not target any third party, and should not be interrupted or remaining by a third party.”
In addition to transparency and lack of consultation, some experts say that the China-Kook Islands agreement may have “dual civil-monsoon use technology and infrastructure”.
Anne-Marie Brady, an expert at Chinese Foreign Policy at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, said, “It directly affects the security and defense of New Zealand and Cook Islands.”
Tension between Kiribati and Democratic colleagues
Hence the tension is increasing New Zealand and another South Pacific state of Kirbati. After failing to secure a meeting with Kiribati President Toteti Mauu in January, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Pater said that Wellington Wood Review Development Funding was followed by Kirbati after a diplomatic snub.
Peters’ office in a statement said at the end of the month, “Lack of contact of political level is very difficult for us to agree on joint priorities for our development program and to ensure that it is well targeted. And provides good value for money. ” ,
In addition to Peters, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marls did not secure a meeting with Mauau during Kiribati’s visit last month, but he got trapped with a original plan by giving a patrol boat in the Pacific Island country.
In New Zealand, Pavls said that the decision to meet with patters and Marls could reflect a change in Kiribati’s diplomatic focus.
“Kirbati’s primary bilateral relationships appear as Fiji, Noreu and China, and the lack of association with the discovery of partners as New Zealand shows that” she explained by email to the VOA.
Other experts say that while Kiribati and Cook Islands do not necessarily want to quit their partnership with New Zealand, China would want to “capitalize” on recent events.
Black Johnson, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said, “China will try to weaken those relationships and say that ‘West is ancestral and colonist and is actually about your interests as China, as China does. Is.”
Beijing’s efforts to enhance diplomatic efforts in the Pacific region pay a fine for foreign aid as the United States pays a fine and New Zealand has threatened to review the development discovery for Kiribati.
Since most Prashant Islands rely too much on foreign aid, Johnson said that the possible shortage of funds from democratic allies may force countries in the Pacific region to seek support from China. “China may be responsible when he wants to fill them [funding] Gap, “he said.
To compete with China’s effort to increase diplomatic presence in the Pacific region, Parker Novak, a non-partner of the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, said Parker Novak said that the democratic countries including Australia and the United States continue to continue in Pacific Island countries including Australia and United States. Needed
Countries with Australia, America and other equal ideologies should promote “positive, consultative relations, which help Pacific Island countries to meet their development needs and provide a reliable option for PRC motivates,” he VOA Told by email to.
