Cook Islands and China sign five-year seabed exploration deal

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Winston Peters called for a “reset” of New Zealand’s relationship with the Cook Islands.

In a speech to the Pacific Island Political Science Association in Wellington on Wednesday evening, Peters said this year, which will mark the 60th anniversary of free association, will require the Government to “reset the Government-to-Government relationship”.

“While the connection between the people of the Cook Islands and New Zealand remains resolutely strong, we currently face challenges in the Government-to-Government relationship,” Peters said.

The remarks were made in the midst of one of the biggest crises the relationship has ever known, with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown signing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and a number of other agreements with China, seen as a strategic competitor by the New Zealand Government, without consulting Wellington to a level the Government believes meets the Cook Islands’ obligations under the current constitutional arrangement between the two countries.

– Agence France-Presse, additional reporting NZ Herald