China seeks to increase “political trust” and belt and road cooperation with the Cook Islands, Premier Li Qiang told his visiting counterpart Mark Brown as they met on Friday.
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Multiple cooperation agreements were signed during the meeting in the northeastern city of Harbin, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported, without offering details.
“China is willing to deepen political mutual trust with the Cook Islands, strengthen connections between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Cook Islands’ development strategy, and promote mutually beneficial cooperation in maritime infrastructure, humanities and other fields,” the report quoted Li as saying.
Prime Minister Brown, for his part, said the Cook Islands would deepen cooperation with China in marine tourism and climate change and adhere to the “one-China” policy.
He also discussed collaboration on seabed mineral research and deep-sea exploration with Chinese institutions as he visited Shanghai and eastern Shandong province earlier in his seven-day trip which ends on Sunday.
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China and the Cook Islands set up a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2018. The small South Pacific island country is considering deep-sea mining for minerals like nickel and cobalt that are crucial to the production of electric vehicle batteries.