The US starts talking to the Cook Islands about researching minerals in the seabed as the world’s politics change
As China gains power in the Pacific, the US has started talks with the Cook Islands to help fund study into minerals found on the seabed.
The US State Department announced on Tuesday that talks have officially begun between the US and the Cook Islands about helping with study into seabed mineral exploration and development within the Pacific nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
The Cook Islands are made up of 15 islands and atolls and are halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii. They have become interesting because of the growing battle around the world for important mineral resources.
The US government has started talking with the Cook Islands government about how to help pay for the study that is needed to guide seabed exploration and smart development, the State Department said in a statement.
People see the move as part of a larger US attempt to reassert its authority in the Pacific Islands, an area where China is becoming a bigger threat to Western influence. In the past few years, Beijing has made a number of defense, trade, and financial deals with several Pacific countries. This has made established allies like the US and New Zealand nervous.
The statement says that companies with ties to the US are already doing most of the seabed mineral study and exploration in the Cook Islands.
The statement came after the Cook Islands and New Zealand had a rough diplomatic period. New Zealand stopped sending millions of dollars in budget help to the Cook Islands in June after the Cook Islands’ Prime Minister made deals with China without first consulting Wellington. As part of those agreements, the countries promised to work together more closely on things like education, fisheries, infrastructure, crisis management, and seabed mining.
In response to the talks between the US and the Cook Islands, New Zealand’s foreign office said it understood the new situation and supported “states’ rights and duties to manage their mineral resources.”
The Cook Islands have been self-governing since 1965, but they are still in free association with New Zealand. This is because of their constitution, which says that they must consult with each other on questions of foreign policy, security, and defense.
Globally, deep-sea mining continues to raise both economic and environmental worries. The Cook Islands’ huge potential for undersea resources has put them at the center of a new environmental and geopolitical debate.
