Cook Islands PM Mark Brown signed an Action Plan for Comprehensive Strategic Partnership 2025-2030 with China last week.
The deal will open the way for dual-use infrastructure facilities in the Cook Islands and has implications for Pacific security, but particularly for New Zealand, the US, and Australia. It is a “frog in the pot” moment for New Zealand, which for years had been encouraging China’s involvement in the region.
The Cook Islands has strategic geography, abundant strategic minerals, and a vast maritime territory of 2.2 million sq km. It is also severely depopulated and infamous as a “mecca” for money laundering as well as registering ships in Russia’s shadow fleet, facilitating Iranian arms shipments, and North Korean smuggling networks. Its government is notoriously corrupt and unrepresentative.
The Cook Islands has one of the most abundant sources of seabed minerals in the world, particularly cobalt, nickel, copper, and manganese. The Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority (CISMA) held talks with the 
government on minerals exploration during Brown’s visit to China. The president of the China-Cook Islands Friendship Association is on the advisory board of the CISMA, and has frequently visited China for people’s diplomacy events.
The Cook Islands government has sealed partnerships with the China Ocean Sample Repository and the National Deep Sea Centre for deep-sea exploration.
The Cook Islands received a one-off NZ$4M (US$2.2M) gift from China for signing the agreement, which was not linked to any particular project.
The Cook Islands government stated that their discussions with China included plans for a multi-use transport hub in the Northern Cook Islands, inter-island transportation, and digital connectivity. The Action Plan document is less specific than that, but mentions maritime infrastructure, hydrography, disaster cooperation that 
would allow China to bring in military forces, and the targeting of local government for influence operations
According to the Action Plan, the Cook Islands will now have to consult with China to coordinate policy before attending regional meetings.
China is working to establish a new order in the Pacific, setting up new institutions and undermining existing ones. It is trying to push the US out of East Asia to break the strategic denial policies set in place at the beginning of the Cold War. To do so it needs to break the US defense line along the island chains, and to cut off key US partners New Zealand and Australia.
New Zealand, Australia, and the US have had warnings about China’s encroaching security presence in the Pacific for a long time.
The Cook Islands government has not released the series of MOUs it signed along with the Action Plan.
thediplomat.com/2025/02/cook-i
“Action Plan 2025 -2030 for the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the Cook Islands and the People’s Republic of China” 
mfai.gov.ck/sites/default/
government on minerals exploration during Brown’s visit to China. The president of the China-Cook Islands Friendship Association is on the advisory board of the CISMA, and has frequently visited China for people’s diplomacy events.
The Cook Islands government has sealed partnerships with the China Ocean Sample Repository and the National Deep Sea Centre for deep-sea exploration.
The Cook Islands received a one-off NZ$4M (US$2.2M) gift from China for signing the agreement, which was not linked to any particular project.
The Cook Islands government stated that their discussions with China included plans for a multi-use transport hub in the Northern Cook Islands, inter-island transportation, and digital connectivity. The Action Plan document is less specific than that, but mentions maritime infrastructure, hydrography, disaster cooperation that would allow China to bring in military forces, and the targeting of local government for influence operations
According to the Action Plan, the Cook Islands will now have to consult with China to coordinate policy before attending regional meetings.
China is working to establish a new order in the Pacific, setting up new institutions and undermining existing ones. It is trying to push the US out of East Asia to break the strategic denial policies set in place at the beginning of the Cold War. To do so it needs to break the US defense line along the island chains, and to cut off key US partners New Zealand and Australia.
New Zealand, Australia, and the US have had warnings about China’s encroaching security presence in the Pacific for a long time.
The Cook Islands government has not released the series of MOUs it signed along with the Action Plan.
thediplomat.com/2025/02/cook-i
“Action Plan 2025 -2030 for the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the Cook Islands and the People’s Republic of China” mfai.gov.ck/sites/default/