Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, left, shakes hands with China’s Premier Li Qiang.
REUTERS
RAROTONGA (Cook Islands News/Pacnews) — Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown has hit out at the New Zealand media and experts for their “ludicrous” and “ignorant” perspectives on the Cook Islands’ recent deals with China, implying they view the island nation as “too dumb” to understand the implications of its own decisions.
Brown slammed suggestions that Cook Islands’ comprehensive strategic partnership and other agreements will help China establish a military presence in the islands.
The Prime Minister also criticized attempts to link the country’s agreements with China to China’s conducting live-fire exercises from naval vessels in the Tasman Sea over the weekend.
On Sunday, RNZ reported that a security studies professor said China will be able to establish a “significant strategic presence” in the Pacific following its new agreement with the Cook Islands.
Massey University associate professor Anna Powles said the agreements that include China building ships, ports and wharves in the islands “can be considered to be critical infrastructure, or strategic infrastructure,” which would support the dozens of extra Chinese coast guard vessels registered in the Pacific last year.
“China, through commercial actors, will be able to establish a significant strategic presence and reach into the Pacific,” Powles told RNZ.
When asked for his perspective on Powles’ analysis, Brown said, “It’s ludicrous.”
“They obviously don’t have an understanding of our situation here. The understanding that each of our islands is owned by the people. It’s not owned by the government and it’s up to them and they decide what takes place on their islands,” Brown said.
“We’ve spent nearly three years just finalizing our details for the Manihiki Airport and part of that was making sure the support of landowners to allow the airport project to proceed.
“So, to just assume that Chinese warships will be able to come into our waters is just ludicrous and it shows a damning ignorance of the understanding of how things work in our country and in the Pacific in general.”
Brown said he does not want to be caught up in an international squabble that is currently happening with international news media regarding the China deal.
Referring to New Zealand media, the Prime Minister said they don’t give the Cook Islands the voice it deserves, instead solely focusing on New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters’ views in matters relating to the Cook Islands.
He added that he has reached the point where he will no longer respond to the New Zealand media because “they just conflate so many issues.”
“We are insignificant (to them),” he said. “The implication being that we are too dumb to know what we’re doing so I really don’t want to comment further on what they think.
“We know what the reality is on the ground here. We know what the reality is on the Pa Enua [the outer islands] and that’s all we’re focused on right now.”
Cook Islands signed with China an Action Plan for a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership 2025-2030 and three MoUs — Deepening Blue Economy Cooperation, Blue Partnership in Seabed Minerals and Economic and Technical Cooperation.
PM Brown earlier said there have been “no commitments made as yet” regarding any investments or projects in the blue economy.
“This is the opening of the doors to allow communications and dialogue and collaboration to take place,” he told local media last week.
Brown reiterated the government’s plan to bring each of the islands into the wider Cook Islands economy.
“We need to build the infrastructure to enable that, so harbors and ports need to be upgraded, airports need to be sealed so that we can have better connectivity with better flights, cheaper fares to the Pa Enua,” he said. “These are the potential projects that we’re looking at, particularly in our Pa Enua, for engagement and collaboration to help us lift the standards of connectivity between our islands.”
New Zealand, with whom the country shares special constitutional relations, has accused the Cook Islands government of a lack of consultation and transparency regarding the broader partnership agreement with China.
A spokesperson for New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said: “We will now analyze the contents of these agreements — focusing on the implications they have for New Zealand, the Cook Islands people and the Realm of New Zealand.”
The relationship between the Cook Islands and New Zealand is based on a “free association” agreement established in 1965. This arrangement allows the Cook Islands to be self-governing while maintaining close ties with New Zealand, particularly in defense, foreign affairs, and natural disasters.