Wellington, Feb 26: Mark Brown, the Prime Minister of Cook Islands, wrote to his New Zealand counterpart, Christopher Luxon, on Wednesday after weeks of diplomatic silence. The two nations had a fallout when Brown signed a five-year agreement with China to cooperate in exploring and researching the Pacific nation’s seabed mineral riches.
The agreement included cooperation on seabed mining, the establishment of diplomatic missions and preferential treatment in regional and multilateral forums. Earlier, Luxon and New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters had both criticised Brown for not sharing the details with New Zealand ahead of its signing of agreements with China, reports local media Radio New Zealand.
Speaking to Pacific Media News Network last week, Luxon said the issue was about transparency. “We have a genuine difference here because under free association, under our constitutional arrangements, we have clear rights and responsibilities, and we have a responsibility around defence, foreign affairs, and security,” says Luxon.
“What we expect is transparency and upfrontness about what’s going on and what’s been proposed because we do have obligations around defence and security we need to make sure are well managed,” he added.
Recently, the presence of Chinese warships and their live-fire exercises caused serious concern in both New Zealand and Australia. New Zealand Defence Minister Judith Collins linked the Chinese activity in their region to the agreement inked between China and the Cook Islands.
She stated that the deal with the Cook Islands to get access to its seabed minerals is “unusual” and aimed at increasing China’s strategic presence in the Pacific. New Zealand and the Cook Islands are close partners, with many constitutional, Pacific, and people-to-people links.
With the recent agreement with the Cook Islands, China is vying to expand its influence in the strategically important Pacific region. While addressing an Association of South East Nations ‘future forum’ on Wednesday in Hanoi, Luxon called for prosperity and security in the Indo-Pacific, reports Radio New Zealand.
Without referring to China directly, he said, “The Indo-Pacific is simultaneously the engine room of global economic activity and a potential hotspot for geo-political tension. Military expansion and modernisation is occurring at a scale not seen in this region for more than half a century.”
IANS