Cook Islands crisis: Mark Brown writes to Christopher Luxon

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown. Photo / via video

The Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Mark Brown, has written to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon as the crisis in the region deepens.

There has been tension between Brown and the New Zealand Government over his decision to travel to Beijing and sign a series of agreements with China this month.

The New Zealand Government believes Brown’s lack of consultation on what is in these agreements breaches the consultation provisions of the 2001 joint centenary declaration between the Cooks and New Zealand.

That agreement obliges the two governments to consult on security matters although there is ambiguity about the level of consultation envisaged by the agreement.

Luxon’s office confirmed that a letter from Brown had been received, but it would not divulge details of what it said.

A spokesperson for the Prime Minister said, “[we] don’t think it’s helpful to offer a running commentary on all of the two governments’ communications”.

“That said, we can confirm we have received a letter from PM Brown which will be responded to in due course.”

A source with knowledge of the letter said that it requested talks between the two countries, potentially at a leader-to-leader level.

The Prime Minister’s office would not confirm this. The Cook Island’s High Commission in Wellington was approached for comment.

Brown survived a no confidence motion in the Cook Islands Parliament on Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters refused to comment on the vote saying, “Democratic governance, in which politicians derive their power from the wishes of their people, is one of the many values that New Zealand and the Cook Islands share.

“The enduring principle of democracy was described by former US President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 as “government of the people, by the people, for the people”. We agree.

“Another foundation of our democracies, as expressed in the Bill of Rights 1688 and part of our countries’ constitutions, is the absolute right of MPs in the Cook Islands as in New Zealand to “freedom of speech within Parliament”. Accordingly, we have no further comment to make,” Peters said in a statement.

Concerns over China’s growing power in the Pacific deepened last week when news emerged of a flotilla of Chinese warships off the coast of Australia.

The warships conducted live firing drills in international waters. Though legal, the exercise frustrated the New Zealand Government which was only given “a couple of hours notice”, according to Defence Minister Judith Collins.

The Government would have preferred 12 to 24 hours’ notice.

The warships entered Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone this week and are moving west.

The New Zealand Navy said it would be continuing to monitor the ships in “close co-ordination with the Australian Defence Force” using the Anzac-class frigate HMNZS Te Kaha and maritime sustainment vessel HMNZS Aotearoa.

Yesterday, the New Zealand Defence Force said the ships were 218 nautical miles east of Hobart, Tasmania. They were previously off the coast of Sydney.

Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.