Cook Islands political crisis must come to a head

No! No! No!

Cook Islands-China deal details to be revealed ‘in the coming days’ – Mark Brown

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown says he is aware of the strong interest in the outcomes of his visit to China.

The New Zealand government said that the Cook Islands failed to properly consult it on proposed agreements that Brown will be signing in Beijing this week.

Brown’s visit to China has ignited debate, both locally and regionally, about the relationship between the Cook Islands and New Zealand.

RNZ Pacific understands Cook Islands government ministers also remain in the dark about when a controversial “comprehensive partnership agreement” will be signed in Beijing, but the island’s Foreign Minister Tingika Elikana told Cook Islands News that Brown has the full support of his Cabinet ministers.

In a statement on Thursday, Brown said he would be sharing more details on the visit “in the coming days”.

Fuck his ‘coming days’ bullshit!

This should NEVER have been signed without our clear engagement, but the fact NZ capitulated and allowed our Realm territories to sign independent relationships with America immediately undermined our position with them!

This is all on MFAT and the ramifications are enormous.

Firstly America will demand to know why the fuck a 5 Eyes member had no idea the Cooks had gone feral and were allowing the Chinese into our sphere of influence and it means China’s expansion into our territory continues unabated.

Audrey Young is damning…

NZ is not overreacting
It is no secret that China wants a safe harbour/harbours in the Pacific for its vastly expanding naval fleet. It will not come in the form of a formal agreement but in future expansions of friendly agreements of maritime cooperation with smaller states. There have been scares over Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. No one anticipated it could potentially happen just beyond New Zealand’s front yard.

Brown has said there is no need for New Zealand to be in the room in Beijing. But New Zealand was not asking to be in the room in Beijing; it was asking to be properly consulted on the actual agreement before it was signed.

It was not asking for an unreasonable favour. New Zealand is responsible for the Cook Islands’ external relations and defence. It says so in the Cook Islands Constitution Act 1964 and was reiterated in the 2001 Joint Centenary Declaration.

Brown has said there would be “no surprises” on security issues when the agreement was revealed after signing. If that is the case – if it is only about getting help to mine cobalt nodules on its ocean floor – what was there to lose in consulting New Zealand properly when the alternative is damaging its closest relationship?

Brown has been a very energetic PM and gained even more confidence when he chaired the Pacific Islands Forum last year. He was clearly upset last year when New Zealand flatly rejected his bid for a Cook Islands passport without forfeiting New Zealand citizenship. But the stakes are way higher now. It is easy enough to find academics who will say New Zealand is being a bully or being paternalistic. But New Zealand’s interests are clearly at stake, too. It is not an overreaction.

…we have been propping up the Cooks and we give them New Zealand citizenship on top of the aid, if our Pacific Neighbours want to trade in their whanau links with us in New Zealand and all the goodwill that brings for a despotic Communist Authoritarian regime who will over run them and rob them of their economic sovereignty and mana, they are welcome to it!

If Cook Islands wish to leave Realm of NZ for China – let them! But don’t pretend by signing this deal with China that the current arrangement can remain.

The Cooks are either an independent state doing what they want with China or they are part of the Realm of NZ and all the constitutional obligations that comes with that.

If they want to break faith with us and the freedom we guarantee in favour of authoritarian Chinese power, knock yourself out.

Revoke the Realm relationship, agree in good faith to allow all those Cook Islanders currently in NZ to remain as citizens and allow the Cooks to do what they want with China.

Good Luck. They will devour you.

If that is the bed the Cook Islands really want to make for themselves, let them!

What is intolerable is this quasi state the Cooks have now driven themselves into.

They are either a Realm territory or they are a vassal for China.

Choose one and either continue the relationship with NZ or leave us for China and lose NZ citizenship.

If the Cooks want to be over run by China, that’s their choice but the current situation can not stand.

 

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