It's emerged this morning that New Zealand is pausing its funding to the Cook Islands in the wake of a controversial deal signed between China and the Cook Islands.
Speaking to reporters in the last hour, the Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the 2001 Joint Centenary Declaration between the two nations required them to consult regularly on security and defence and this had not been lived up to.
He said "We have made it very clear in our response to statements that were being made which we do not think laid out the facts and truth behind this matter, of what New Zealand's position is, on behalf of the Cook Islands people who we have responsibilities to, and above all to the New Zealand taxpayers to whom we are answerable."
The news has broken on the eve of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his current visit to China.
But it's become clear the Cook Island's government has known about this for several weeks. For latest we're joined by RNZ's political editor, Jo Moir.
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown Photo: Cook Islands News / Talaia Mika
