Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown is visiting Beijing this week to sign a strategic partnership agreement with the world’s second-largest economy in the latest sign of China’s expanding influence in the Pacific Islands region.
But the proposed pact has shaken decades-old ties between the Cook Islands and New Zealand, neighbours that are set to mark 60 years of a free association agreement in 2025. That agreement has long given New Zealand influence over the Cook Islands, especially over its foreign policy.
