Summary

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown has signed multiple deals with China covering infrastructure, shipbuilding, deep-sea mineral exploration, and other sectors without consulting New Zealand, its traditional ally with “free association” status.

This move has sparked local protests and a no-confidence vote (which Brown survived), while “blindsiding” New Zealand and concerning Australia.

China’s growing influence in the Pacific, evident in recent naval exercises near Australia and New Zealand, has led to these developments.

With Trump’s unpredictability toward allies grows, Pacific nations face competing relationships with China and traditional Western allies amid shifting regional power dynamics.