On February 7, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters expressed “complete surprise” at the Cook Islands’ plan to sign a major agreement with China and issue its own passports.
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| The Cook Islands is a small country in the Pacific Ocean. (Source: FMT) |
AFP news agency reported that on February 6, Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown announced plans to visit China for 5 days from February 10 and will sign the "Joint Action Plan on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership" with Beijing.
Prime Minister Brown said the visit aimed to expand economic opportunities “while ensuring that sovereignty and national interests come first.”
Commenting on the plan, New Zealand Foreign Minister Peters said: “This development has taken both the Cook Islands and us by surprise,” revealing that Wellington had been asking for information for months, but the information “was not shared with us or the Cook Islands.”
The diplomat said he had not been consulted about the moves by the Cook Islands, a tiny Pacific nation that maintains a “free association” with New Zealand. Wellington provides budget support and foreign affairs and defence assistance to the former dependency, which is home to 17,000 New Zealand citizens.
“This move was completely unexpected,” Foreign Minister Peters told Newstalk ZB radio. “First of all, the requirement for separate passports, which will have a significant impact on our constitutional arrangements, and then the upcoming visit to China.”
The Cook Islands government has not yet responded to the New Zealand foreign minister's comments.
The visit comes at a sensitive time when China is competing for diplomatic, economic and military influence in the strategically important Pacific region, challenging the traditional positions of the United States, New Zealand and Australia.
Source: https://baoquocte.vn/quan-dao-cook-tuyen-bo-ke-hoach-siet-chat-quan-he-voi-trung-quoc-new-zealand-bat-ngo-303596.html
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