Jason Walls: Newstalk ZB political editor on New Zealand halting Cook Islands funding after China agreements

The Foreign Minister's pushing back on suggestions our geopolitical stoush with the Cook Islands will impact our relationship with China. 

Winston Peters this morning confirmed the Government's halted development aid to the Cooks, with his Ministry unhappy over the lack of clarity around the island nation's cooperation deal with China. 

Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls says Peters made it clear that New Zealand's issues are about the Cook Islands' lack of consultation with us. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, Jason Wall's political editor is with me right now.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hey, Jason, good afternoon, now, Jason, bit.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Of a dodgy connection with China A So, I don't
imagine that you've heard very much of what the Prime
Minister has had to.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Say, Unfortunately not as of yet. He just had to
stand up with media over there. Unfortunately we weren't able
to hear what it was, given that the fact that
there was, as you said, a bit of a dodgy connection.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
So we are waiting for them basically to file through
to us what he's had to say. But in the meantime,
let's deal with what is actually happening here on the ground.
So what caused this, What brought this on for Winston
Peters to be so annoyed at the Cooks that he
cuts this money.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well, it's been an ongoing saga, and you'll know this
isn't the first time that we've actually talked about this issue.
The Cooks. This cooperation agreement with China has been a
bit of a thorn in Winston Peters's side for some
time because he's been asking for information. He's been specifically
requesting how this cooperation agreement between the Cooks and China

(00:53):
affects New Zealand. Now, he was at pains today to
point out that it's okay for them to have such
an agreement, but the fact that New Zealand, as such
a close partner to the Cooks, has no idea what's
going on has been a real problem for Winston. So
he dispensed with the carrot and went from this with
the stick. This morning and the big front page article
from the Cook News was a big photo of Winston

(01:15):
Peters saying and then next to it essentially saying New
Zealand holts funding it to the Cook Islands. According to
the newspaper reports, New Zealand has paused millions of dollars
of funding to the Cook Island citing a breach of
trust and a lack of consultation regarding the Cook Island's
recent funding agreement with China. So we spoke to Winston
this morning and here's what he had to say about that.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
We are saying, look, we wanted to do a review.
We want an assurance that our special rationship remained special.
So we've got responsibilities ourselves here and we want to
make sure that we didn't put a step wrong in
our commitment and our special ragements which goes back decades.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
So over the past three years, New Zealand's given about
one hundred and ninety million dollars worth of development aid
to the Cooks over the next financial year, looking to
be closer to eighteen million dollars. So that's been paused
until we can get a little bit more of an
understanding about what it was in that agreement. Now, Winston,
to his credit, has been asking and he's been waiting
politely for some time now, and it seems like he's

(02:14):
just had enough of waiting.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Okay, how long ago did the cook sign this?

Speaker 2 (02:19):
I my memory was it was potentially late to mid
last year. I can't remember the date exactly, but I
know that this year, well, it's blown up a couple
of times. I mean, that's the thing, because it keeps
flaring up at different times.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, so publicly, I think it blew up in February.
So we are now four months down the track. If
Winston has done this four months down the track, that
means he is not making headway with the Cock Island's government.
That says to me that they are being very obstructive here.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well, I mean, clearly they are. You don't make a
move like this, as as geopolitically tense as something like
this unless you really mean it, because I mean it
has been compared to it Trumpian move to basically say,
we don't like what you're doing, so we're going to
stop funding to this country. Although cook Island's technically is
in a country, it's a realm of New Zealand, or
the realm country as it's called, New Zealand, still has

(03:11):
quite a lot of influence of over the Cooks in
terms of you know, we have a visa, free access,
we have the same currency. So I'm interested to see
what happens next with the Cooks if this is going
to force their hand.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Who has compared Winston to Trump on this matter?

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Listen, it was a it was a newsroom article that attributed.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Deeply unfair to him, don't you. I mean, if anybody
is considered when it comes to the Pacific and the
battle over the hearts and minds of people in the
Pacific between China and the West, it is it is
Winston Peace.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
It is Winston Raymond Peters. I agree with you. I mean,
nobody does it better than Winston when it comes to
the Pacific. And I'm not just saying that because he's
sitting in the room right right now with me to
a gun with a gun to my head. I'm saying
it because he's actually made this sort of impact on
the Pacific and that will go down as his legacy
very well respected by the Pacifically, even China cares. Listen.

(03:59):
I often think about this and think, in the sort
of the geopolitical struggles that little Old New Zealand has,
does China care? But I think given the fact that
the Prime Minister is over in China right now and
will be meeting with Shi Jing Ping within the coming days,
I think it will be on their agenda. They will
at least be briefed about it, and Christopher Luxon will
be asking some questions to see if he can get

(04:20):
some clarity from the Chinese side of things.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
Hey, Jason, thank you appreciate you stepping into the breach
here for us that as Jason Walls Political edited for
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