As voters in the Cook Islands prepare to head to the polls in a high-stakes general election, they will have much to reflect on. Over recent years, politics in this small island nation has been defined by fierce debates about deep-sea mining, diplomatic rifts with ally New Zealand and a major reshaping of the country’s foreign partnerships. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, days before Wednesday’s poll, Cook Islands prime minister Mark Brown defended his four-year term and the decisions he made that have seen this South Pacific nation…
Tag: Deep-sea mining
In the depths of the ocean, a new contest between the US and China emerges
Deep below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, the seafloor is dotted with clusters of brown and black rocks, each containing valuable metals. The rocks, known as polymetallic nodules, hold reserves of critical minerals that could be used to power clean energy and fuel a new industrial future. In the Cook Islands, a nation halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand, exploration vessels are mapping the mineral-rich seabeds. Here, the US and China are both exploring the resource potential – setting up a new strategic battle between the world’s two most…
Caught in the contest between China and the west, the Cook Islands asks where its future lies
On a remote stretch of land in the Cook Islands lies a second world war airstrip. Once used as a wartime supply route by American forces, the narrow runway is in dire need of resealing to allow larger tourist jets to land. Leaders on the northern island of Penrhyn have asked New Zealand, Australia and the US to help, but none have come through. Now, they hope China will step in and fund it. “That is the dream,” says Penrhyn’s executive director, Puna John Vano. “We want to maintain our…