By Ha Er-rui | 2026-04-22

New Zealand and the Cook Islands have signed a new defense agreement, restoring bilateral ties strained since the Cook Islands signed a strategic deal with China last year without consulting Wellington.

The declaration designates each nation as a "partner of choice" and establishes a clearer framework for defense and security cooperation under the two sides' decades-long free association relationship.

Signed in Rarotonga in early April by New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, it was presented as a new foundation for future cooperation.

Peters said the agreement brings clarity to a relationship complicated by a shifting geopolitical landscape.

"This declaration resolves this former ambiguity and provides clarity to both governments so that we can move forward focused on the future, not the past," he said.

Brown framed it in terms of mutual respect: "We signed this declaration as a new foundation built on clarity, on mutual acknowledgement and on the shared belief that two nations, different in size but equal in dignity, can build something genuinely worth investing in."

Strained ties

The Cook Islands, a former New Zealand territory in the South Pacific, entered a free association arrangement with New Zealand in 1965, gaining self-governance while its citizens retained New Zealand citizenship. Under that framework, both parties are obligated to consult regularly on defense and security matters.

That relationship came under strain in 2025 when the Cook Islands signed a strategic partnership agreement with China covering deep-sea mining, regional cooperation, and economic development -- without prior consultation with Wellington. New Zealand expressed "significant concern" and suspended roughly NZ$29.8 million ($17.1 million) in annual financial assistance.

The new declaration requires the Cook Islands to come to New Zealand first with any "requests for support" on security issues, including those related to "critical infrastructure" such as ports and telecommunications.

The Cook Islands will also provide "early and comprehensive notification" to New Zealand on security issues, while giving Wellington broad scope to challenge any agreements with "third parties" that could undermine the declaration.

China factor

"China out, NZ back in as new deal struck with Cook Islands," read a 1News headline. The news website of New Zealand's state-owned broadcaster TVNZ said the declaration "effectively sidelines China" by reasserting Wellington’s primacy in Cook Islands security matters.

Under the declaration, any agreement the Cook Islands signed with other countries before the pact was signed could now fall under Wellington's scrutiny if deemed to affect New Zealand or the realm’s security and defense in any way.

Peters said existing Cook Islands agreements with China now face significant constraints. "The clear interpretation of that is that the so-called agreements have now got massive limitations to them," he told 1News.

"And it also is a message to the Chinese government, who we're on good relations with, that there's a special relationship here between Tokelau, Niue and the Cook Islands and we're part of it. That's the key part that they (China) did not acknowledge at the time."

China's growing push into the Pacific has unsettled the region, particularly across the sparsely populated South Pacific, where small island states hold vast exclusive economic zones rich in marine resources and of considerable strategic value.

Beijing responded to the declaration by calling for respect for Pacific island nations' autonomy. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China was willing to continue working with the Cook Islands to "deepen practical cooperation and steadily improve the wellbeing of our two peoples."

'Family' vs. 'friend'

Brown, however, drew a clearer distinction between the Cook Islands’ ties with New Zealand and its relationship with China.

In an April 21 interview with RNZ’s Checkpoint, Brown said New Zealand remained "family" to the Cook Islands and "probably our strongest relationship" among its development partners.

He described China, by contrast, as "a very good friend" that had supported the Cook Islands' development priorities, particularly infrastructure, over nearly 30 years of diplomatic ties.

Anna Powles, associate professor at Massey University's Centre for Defense and Security Studies, said the deterioration in relations in recent years reflected differing interpretations of obligations under the 2001 Joint Centenary Declaration.

The new agreement, she said, goes further: "What this one does is help to comprehensively clarify the fact that New Zealand is situated as the Cook Islands' primary defense and security partner and that it's very much an exclusive relationship."