“China-Cook Islands cooperation does not target any third party and should not be interfered with,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.
“New Zealand and the Cook Islands are both important cooperative partners of China.”
He was reacting to a New Zealand government move earlier in the day to halt aid to the Cook Islands because of a row over agreements the island nation struck with China.
New Zealand paused the payments and would not resume them until the Cook Islands took “concrete steps” to restore trust, a spokesman for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
The Cook Islands, a country of 17,000 people, has a “free association” relationship with its former colonial ruler New Zealand, which provides budgetary assistance as well as help on foreign affairs and defence.
The Cook Islands caught New Zealand off guard in February when it signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with China covering deep-sea mining, regional cooperation and economic issues.
A spokesman for Peters pointed to the “lack of consultation” surrounding the “agreements signed by the Cook Islands and China” as a reason for the aid pause.
The pause in funding comes as New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is scheduled to meet with President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday.
Peters said on Thursday the funding pause was not timed to coincide with Luxon’s trip to China. (AFP)
