SYDNEY (Reuters) - Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown said he would release soon the full details of a comprehensive strategic partnership deal signed between China and his country, which has raised concerns in New Zealand with which it has constitutional ties.

The Cook Islands' head of government on Tuesday defended a new partnership pact with China and urged his country not to depend on handouts from "big brother" New Zealand. Prime Minister Mark Brown said the accord signed with Beijing offered the small Pacific nation opportunities in trade,

The Cook Islands' prime minister on Tuesday defended a new partnership pact with China and urged his country not to depend on handouts from "big brother" New Zealand. "We can choose to be a country that relies on handouts and is dependent on our big brother or we can choose to be a country that can stand on its own two feet and can engage in constructive partnerships of mutual benefit,

The Cook Islands is a self-governing nation and maintains free association with Wellington, sharing a head of state and citizenship rights. It is permitted an independent foreign

The South Pacific country of Cook Islands has unveiled the details of a deal with China to boost cooperation after the pact provoked a rare diplomatic clash with the nation’s chief benefactor, New Zealand,

The islands’ PM said Pacific nations were looking for other countries to ‘fill the gap’ in the wake of Trump’s return as US president.