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Today's Topics:
1. O/t: Cook Islands set to sign economic pact with China
(Stephen Loosley)
2. Re: O/t: Cook Islands set to sign economic pact with China
(Tom Worthington)
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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2025 01:50:42 +1030
From: Stephen Loosley <[email protected]>
To: "link" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] O/t: Cook Islands set to sign economic pact with China
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Cook Islands set to sign economic pact with China
Story by Ben McKay ? 11h ? 3 min read
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/cook-islands-set-to-sign-economic-pact-with-china/ar-AA1yuZa9
As it prepares to sign a wide-ranging partnership with China, the Cook Islands
has sought to cool Australian concerns that Beijing has inked another security
deal in the Pacific.
However, the fresh pact - as revealed by TVNZ this week - has raised plenty of
red flags in New Zealand, which has a special constitutional relationship with
the Cooks.
The Cook Islands is a Polynesian country of 15 islands wedged between Tonga and
Samoa to its west, and French Polynesia to its east, home to around 20,000
people and popular holiday spot for Kiwis.
Another 100,000 people - including former Wallabies coach Dave Rennie -
identify as Cook Islanders living in New Zealand.
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown has confirmed travel to Beijing next
week to sign a "comprehensive strategic partnership" with China, telling TVNZ
he saw the two nations as "like-minded".
[Photo caption: The Cook Islands is a Polynesian nation of 15 islands. (Mick
Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)
"In terms of economic growth and the prosperity of our peoples, we share those
common interests," he said.
The tie-up will see China assist the Pacific nation grow its fisheries, assist
with its ferry network, and collaborate on Mr Brown's pet industry: deep sea
mining.
Mr Brown said the deal was not similar to a bombshell 2022 announcement by the
Solomon Islands that it would partner with China on security, a pact which
caught Australia off-guard.
"Our agreement doesn't have any of those aspects in it," he said.
New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters has signalled alarm with the
deal, suggesting his government was blind-sighted.
For 60 years, the Cook Islands has governed in "free association" with New
Zealand under a treaty that gives Cook Islanders citizenship of New Zealand,
and gives Wellington shared responsibility for foreign affairs and defence.
New Zealand is also the Cook Islands' biggest development partner, giving
$US219 million ($A349 million) over the last 15 years: more than double China's
aid, and four times the support from Australia.
"We want clarity," Mr Peters told TVNZ.
"We've got constitutional arrangements which require consultation with us ...
and dare I say it, China knows that."
A deal is likely to be frowned upon in Canberra and Washington, given western
opposition to Chinese influence in the region.
Under Mr Brown's leadership, the Cook Islands government has struck an
increasingly independent tone, even exploring to establish its own citizenship
and passport.
A spokesman for Mr Peters confirmed "a number of issues on which New Zealand
and the Cook Islands do not see eye-to-eye", including the passport proposal
and transparency over the China deal.
The government dispatched its top diplomatic bureaucrat, Bede Corry, to
Rarotonga for emergency talks over the pact.
New Zealand - which also gives Cook Islanders free movement and access to New
Zealand's health system - says that will only be possible through a breakaway
via a referendum.
"If he wishes to create a separate Cook Islands passport and citizenship then
he is advocating independence from New Zealand," Mr Peters told TVNZ last year.
"Prime Minister Brown needs to make it clear to Cook Islanders that they can
have a Cook Islands passport or a New Zealand one ... they cannot have both."
New Zealand wants a continuation of current governing arrangements, with a
spokesman for Mr Peters calling the Cook Islands an "integral" part of its
family.
Mr Brown will travel to China from February 10-14 to sign the pact, promising
further details then.
--
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2025 10:18:56 +1100
From: Tom Worthington <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [LINK] O/t: Cook Islands set to sign economic pact with
China
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; Format="flowed"
On 2/7/25 02:20, Stephen Loosley wrote:
> Cook Islands set to sign economic pact with China Story by Ben McKay ? 11h ?
> 3 min read
> https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/cook-islands-set-to-sign-economic-pact-with-china/ar-AA1yuZa9
>
> ... raised plenty of red flags ...
Pun intended?
I have a cunning plan: "Peace Through Superior Education", using mobile
learning for the indo-pacific as a new take on the Colombo Plan:
https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/search?q=mobile+pacific
--
Tom Worthington http://www.tomw.net.au
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