While Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is in Beijing encouraging CCP officials to increase trade and tourism with New Zealand, his Foreign Minister Winston Peters appears to have taken Cabinet by surprise by announcing a freezing of aid to the Cook Islands over concerns about the small Pacific nation’s growing ties to Beijing.
The two countries share a rare form of formal relationship: the Cook Islands operates in free association with New Zealand, governing its own affairs while New Zealand provides assistance with foreign affairs, disaster relief, and defence. Cook Islanders are New Zealand citizens, and there is a significant diaspora in New Zealand.
