Geoffrey Miller: Geopolitical Analyst on the potential deal between the Cook Islands and China

More details have been revealed about a potential deal between the Cook Islands and China. 

It's being reported that Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown will travel to Beijing today, where he's expected to sign a comprehensive strategic partnership with China. 

MFAT says it would have expected our Government to be consulted by the Pacific nation before such an arrangement is struck, under the free association model. 

Geopolitical analyst Geoffrey Miller told Andrew Dickens the Cook Islands PM has said it's economic focused. 

He says it will not contain defence and security, and it's likely to be a comprehensive strategic partnership, something New Zealand signed with China back in 2014. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Cook Island's Prime Minister, Mike Brown is traveling to Beijing today,
where he's expected to sign a major partnership deal between
the Cook Islands and China. Our government, of course, has
been completely blindsided by this, and there's still questions around
whether constitutional arrangements have been breached. And many of the
residents of the Cook Islands are also saying, what's in
the deal, but Mike's not telling us. International relations expert

(00:20):
Jeffrey Millard joins me now, hallo, Jeffrey, good morning, Andrew.
Do you know what's in the deal?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well, we do know some things that are in the deal.
Mark Brown has said in his interview with TV and
Z that it will be an economics focused deal that
will not contain defense and security. It seems likely it's
going to be a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with China.
New Zealand has one of its own. It has its
own comprehensive strategic partnership China agreement that it's signed with

(00:47):
China way back in twenty fourteen.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
But this is acceptable that this deal has seemingly remained
mostly secret to both the Cook Islands people and the
New Zealand government.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Well, look, Winston Peters is not very happy about it.
You would have to say put it mildly. In fact,
they put out quite an extraordinary statement Virus spokesperson yesterday
saying that New Zealand and the Corck Islands are not
seeing eye to eye on a number of issues. And
normally these kinds of things that dealt with behind the scenes,
but this is now blown up in the media. I
think some of these problems really are homegrown though in
New Zealand. They go back over across success of New

(01:20):
Zealand governments. New Zealand sign and agreement back in two
thousand and one that said the Cock Islands was a
sovereign and independent state but also should consult on foreign
affairs issues. I think Mark Brown's argument will be that
he has consulted, and certainly there have been regular consultations
between the Corck Islands and New Zealand. This agreement is

(01:40):
not about defense and security. There was a special agreement
last year signed between the Corcklands and New Zealand which
required a consultation on defense and security. This isn't about that.
It's going to be about fisheries on an Into Ireland
ferry on deep sea mining in the end of Coock Islands,
like a lot of Pacific states, simply want development.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
And if he goes to beating and he signs on
the dotted line and he gets the fairies and he
gets the deep sea mining and all that sort of thing,
is that a done deal or do we have the
ability to veto it?

Speaker 2 (02:12):
No, I don't think New Zealand has any real ability
of veto Look. I think the simple message for New
Zealand here is that if New Zealand doesn't want Cock
Island's going off to China and signing agreement and east
the front up was the cash itself, and that was
very much the message from Mark Brown that New Zealand's
only given sixty million dollars of grant money in the
last three years and really the onus is on New

(02:34):
Zealand to pay up. And I think we could actually
have a useful cooperation here. You remember New Zealand has
good friendly relations with China as well. New Zealand is
cooperated with China and the Cock Islands in the past
on building water infrastructure in Raratonga. So there's no reason
why New Zealand can't get together with China and Cock
Islands and develop some projects together and work together. Because

(02:56):
this is all rather unedifying, and this is turning far
turning into a diplomatic debarcle. It was meant to be
a celebration this year of sixty years of ties of
the Cook Islands and free association with New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Well said Jeffrey Miller, of course, international relations expert. There
are some that say, of course, that Mike Brown is
doing this because of the proposal of a separate Cook
Islands passport, us taking away the New Zealand passport. Certainly,
I love the word unedifying. The whole thing is rather unedifying.
For more from early edition with Ryan Bridge.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
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