The Cook Islands said Saturday it has struck a five-year agreement with China to cooperate in exploring and researching the Pacific nation’s seabed mineral riches.
A copy of the deal — which is likely to irk close partner and former colonial ruler New Zealand — showed it covers working together in the “exploration and research of seabed mineral resources”.
A joint committee would oversee the partnership, which also includes seabed minerals-related training and technology transfer, logistics support, and deep-sea ecosystems research.
The Cook Islands government said the memorandum of understanding, signed with China on February 14, did not involve any agreement to give an exploration or mining licence.
The self-governing Cook Islands, a country of 17,000 people, has a “free association” relationship with New Zealand, which provides budgetary assistance as well as helping on foreign affairs and defence.
Cook Islanders hold New Zealand citizenship.
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown said the deal supported a broader partnership pact he signed on a state visit to China this month for the two countries to cooperate in trade, investment and the seabed minerals sector.
“Our seabed minerals section remains under strict regulatory oversight, ensuring that all decisions are made transparently and in the best interest of the Cook Islands and its people,” he said in a statement.
New Zealand has already accused the Cook Islands government of a lack of consultation and transparency over the wider partnership agreement with China.
It has demanded to see all the agreements signed during Brown’s China trip.
New Zealand and its allies including Australia and the United States have been unnerved by China’s growing diplomatic, economic and military influence in the strategically important Pacific.
But Brown has insisted his country’s relations with New Zealand and other partners are not affected by the partnership accord he signed with China.
The Cook Islands has licensed three companies to explore the seabed for nodules rich in metals such as nickel and cobalt, which are used in electric car batteries.
Despite issuing the five-year exploration licenses in 2022, the Cook Islands government says it will not decide whether to harvest the potato-sized nodules until it has assessed environmental and other impacts.
The Pacific country’s prime minister has nevertheless touted the benefits of the potentially multi-billion-dollar industry, saying previously that the Cook Islands needs to protect itself against climate change “through whatever revenues that we can get”.
