Politics South China Sea Thread

[primer]

Cook Islands /NZ partnership use to be close.

NZ halts some Cook Islands funding in response to Cooks-China deal​

New Zealand has halted around $20 million in funding for the Cook Islands Government, in retaliation for the deal it signed with China.

A spokesperson for the minister for foreign affairs confirmed that “core sector support” for the Cook Islands had stopped and there would also be no significant new funding for the nation until relationships improve between the two governments.

This represents a significant backward step in the New Zealand and Cook Islands relationship.

The islands are self-governed, but they are so close to New Zealand that Cook Islanders are officially New Zealanders. We share the same passport and many government services.

But the New Zealand Government was left in the dark about a deal signed between the Cook Islands and China, which has led to this funding decision.

Cook islands and NZ used to be the closest partnership.

A spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said:

“Given the breadth and content of the agreements signed between China and the Cook Islands, and the lack of any consultation with New Zealand, New Zealand undertook an assessment of our development programme in the Cook Islands to ensure it wasn’t undermined by the increased cooperation the Cook Islands Government is planning with China,” he said.

He said this assessment would not have been required had the Cook Islands shared information about the deal earlier. At the time, Peters called on the Cook Islands to discuss the deal - but that invitation was not welcomed.

“The Cook Islands Government did not engage with New Zealand in advance of their discussions and agreements with China to ensure our shared interests were not put at risk. New Zealand's concerns and this assessment were clearly foreshadowed to the Cook Islands Government,” the spokesperson said.

They said core sector funding - which is effectively money going straight to the Tresuary of the Cook Islands - could resume if “trust” was restored.

“Core Sector Support funding relies on a high trust bilateral relationship. New Zealand has therefore paused these payments and will also not consider significant new funding until the Cook Islands Government takes concrete steps to repair the relationship and restore trust. New Zealand hopes that steps will be taken swiftly to address New Zealand’s concerns,” the spokesperson said.

New Zealand provided about $194 million in funding to the Cook Islands over the past three years. Last year, Peters visited to confirm a $20 million funding arrangement for core sector support.

 

[Hiryu2.0]

Situation Report: China's Unprecedented Spring Naval Campaign

Overshadowed by the ongoing war in Ukraine and the emerging war between Israel and Iran, China has embarked on a naval campaign of unprecedented scale in recent weeks.

www.opforjournal.com

 

[primer]

NZ PM
"Christopher Luxon concludes China trip: 'No evidence' of collaboration with Russia, Iran and North Korea"

Claims to have signed trade deals, but we already have trade deal and subsidize their postage. Since we have nothing manufactured that competes with China and our biggest dairy company is selling its vlaue added brands and going back to commodities he is brainless in all accounts.

 

[BravoZulu]

Taiwan is vetting hundreds of thousands of military service members, public school teachers and civil servants in a bid to root out potential homegrown Chinese sympathisers, as Beijing intensifies espionage on the island.

Alarm is growing in Taiwan over the extent of China's infiltration on the self-ruled island, which Beijing claims is part of its territory and has threatened to seize by force.

Prosecutors last week charged four recently expelled members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party -- including a former staffer in President Lai Ching-te's office -- for sharing state secrets with Beijing.

While Taipei and Beijing have spied on each other for decades, analysts warn the threat to Taiwan is more serious given the risk of a Chinese attack.

The main targets of Chinese infiltration have been retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology.

Lai, an outspoken defender of Taiwan's sovereignty and loathed by Beijing, has branded China a "foreign hostile force" and sought to raise public awareness about Chinese actions he says threaten national security.

After a sharp rise in the number of people prosecuted for spying for China in recent years, the government is trying to identify people within its own departments, military and public schools with a possible allegiance to Beijing.

Anyone on the public service payroll found with Chinese residence or other identification cards risks losing their Taiwanese household registration, effectively their citizenship.

"The reason we started to survey (for Chinese IDs) is because China uses this way to coerce Taiwanese people, to penetrate our system, especially the public service," DPP lawmaker Wang Ting-yu told AFP.

"The threat is getting worse and worse and we have to deal with that."

More:
https://www.france24.com/en/live-ne...wn-chinese-spies-as-beijing-s-influence-grows

 

[primer]

Wasn't so long ago they had a pro China pres, they are a confucian gey zone.
2024;
Taiwan’s opposition-controlled legislature has ignored massive protests to push through controversial legislative changes seen as favourable to China. The laws, adopted on Tuesday, pushed through by the opposition nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) and smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), give lawmakers the power to require the president to give regular reports to parliament and answer lawmakers’ questions. It also criminalises contempt of parliament by government officials.

If they didn't have chips and a pawn in US hegemony?