Every year, tens of thousands of tourists visit the pristine beaches and turquoise lagoons of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. Their business sustains this small nation of 15 islands and atolls, where no building is taller than a coconut tree.
Most travelers come from New Zealand, the Cook Islands’ former colonial ruler, and the two have long had close ties. But in recent months, they have been locked in an icy standoff.
The fallout was over a wide-ranging partnership agreement the Cook Islands signed this year with China. The deal, viewed as the latest sign of China’s encroachment in the region, has alarmed New Zealand.
New Zealand has put on hold millions of dollars in aid, leaving a hole in the Cook Islands’ budget. Prime Minister Mark Brown of the Cook Islands has threatened to “go somewhere else” for his country’s infrastructure needs. There have been accusations of New Zealand using aid as a bargaining chip, and rare protests in Rarotonga, the main island, by people concerned about jeopardizing ties with New Zealand.
Even after the two countries’ leaders met face to face last week at a regional forum, there has been no sign of a breakthrough.
“It was a serious change when they entered those arrangements with China, and we knew nothing of it,” New Zealand’s foreign minister, Winston Peters, said in an interview last month.
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The post How China Became a Wedge Between Two South Pacific Neighbors appeared first on New York Times.
