New Zealand halts millions of funds to Cook Islands

Wellington: New Zealand has halted millions of dollars in funding to the Cook Islands over the “breadth and content” of agreements the smaller Pacific nation made with China, officials said Thursday.

New Zealand, which is the smaller Pacific nation’s biggest funder, won’t consider any new money for the Cook Islands until the

relationship improves, a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters told The Associated Press.

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown told

lawmakers in Parliament on Thursday that the funding was “not halted, it’s paused,” and downplayed the

significance of the amount frozen.

Relations between other Pacific islands and their larger regional backers

Australia and New Zealand have stumbled over ties with China in recent years as

Beijing has vied to increase its Pacific sway.