Every year, tens of thousands of tourists visit the pristine beaches and turquoise lagoons of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. Their business sustains this small nation of 15 islands and atolls, where no building is taller than a coconut tree.

每年，成千上万的游客前往南太平洋的库克群岛，造访那里的原始海滩和碧蓝泻湖。他们的到来支撑着这个由15个岛屿和环礁组成的小国的经济。在这里，没有一座建筑高过椰子树。

Most travelers come from New Zealand, the Cook Islands’ former colonial ruler, and the two have long had close ties. But in recent months, they have been locked in an icy standoff.

大多数游客来自新西兰，库克群岛的前殖民宗主国，两国素来关系密切。但近几个月里，双方陷入了冰冷对峙。

The fallout was over a wide-ranging partnership agreement the Cook Islands signed this year with China. The deal, viewed as the latest sign of China’s encroachment in the region, has alarmed New Zealand.

这场争端源于库克群岛今年与中国签署的一项范围广泛的合作协议。该协议被视为中国在该地区持续扩张的最新迹象，引发了新西兰的警觉。

New Zealand has put on hold millions of dollars in aid, leaving a hole in the Cook Islands’ budget. Prime Minister Mark Brown of the Cook Islands has threatened to “go somewhere else” for his country’s infrastructure needs. There have been accusations of New Zealand using aid as a bargaining chip, and rare protests in Rarotonga, the main island, by people concerned about jeopardizing ties with New Zealand.

新西兰已暂停援助，导致库克群岛的预算出现缺口。库克群岛总理马克·布朗威胁称，将“另寻他处”来满足国家的基础设施需求。有人指责新西兰将援助作为谈判筹码，在主岛拉罗汤加还爆发了罕见的抗议活动，抗议者担心与新西兰的关系受损。

Even after the two countries’ leaders met face to face last week at a regional forum, there has been no sign of a breakthrough.

即使两国领导人上周在一次地区论坛上进行了面对面的会晤，局势仍未出现任何突破的迹象。

“It was a serious change when they entered those arrangements with China, and we knew nothing of it,” New Zealand’s foreign minister, Winston Peters, said in an interview last month.

新西兰外交部长温斯顿·彼得斯上个月在一次采访中表示：“他们与中国达成那些协议时，这是一个重大的变化，而我们当时被蒙在鼓里。”

5月，库克群岛外长廷吉卡·艾利卡纳（左）与中国外长王毅在厦门会晤。

New Zealand argues that the Cook Islands was obligated to consult with it before signing the deal, and says there will be no new aid until steps are taken to “repair the relationship and restore trust.” Mr. Brown has pointed out that New Zealand signed its own partnership agreement with China in 2014 — without consulting the Cook Islands — reaping tens of billions of dollars in economic gain.

新西兰认为，库克群岛在签署该协议前有义务与其进行磋商，并表示除非采取行动“修复关系、重建信任”，否则不会提供新的援助。对此，库克群岛总理布朗指出，新西兰早在2014年就与中国签署了自己的伙伴关系协议——当时并未征询库克群岛的意见——并从中获得了巨大的经济利益。

But in the decade since that agreement, New Zealand has grown increasingly wary of China’s intensions in its vicinity. It has watched as China used coercive trade measures to hamstring Australia’s economy, test fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific, and sent a naval task force into the waters between Australia and New Zealand to carry out live fire drills.

但在这份协议签署后的十年里，新西兰对中国在其周边地区的意图越来越警惕。它目睹中国利用贸易胁迫手段打压澳大利亚经济，向太平洋试射洲际弹道导弹，还派出海军特遣舰队驶入澳新之间的海域举行实弹演习。

Mr. Peters said that China’s deal with the Cook Islands “fits a certain recent developmental pattern” of Beijing’s ambitions in the region.

彼得斯表示，中国与库克群岛的协议符合北京在该地区野心的“某种近期发展模式”。

Diplomats from the Cook Islands and New Zealand were “working their way through” the former’s agreement with China to work out points of concern, New Zealand officials said.

新西兰官员表示，来自库克群岛和新西兰的外交人员正在“逐条研究”库克群岛与中国达成的协议，以找出其中令人关切的问题。

The paused funding — worth 18.2 million New Zealand dollars, or about $11 million — was for health, education and tourism; a separate $3 million in aid for cybersecurity is still being provided, according to New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

被暂停的援助金额为1820万新西兰元，约合1100万美元，原本用于卫生、教育和旅游领域；根据新西兰外交贸易部的说法，另一项用于网络安全的300万美元援助仍在继续提供中。

Analysts said that the pause in aid was an extraordinary move by New Zealand. It is a different tack from Australia, which has dramatically increased aid spending in the region.

分析人士指出，新西兰暂停援助是一个不同寻常的举措。这与澳大利亚的做法截然不同，后者近年来在该地区大幅增加了援助支出。

Since 1965, the Cook Islands has been self-governing, but relies on New Zealand for defense. Cook Islanders hold New Zealand passports and the majority of them — nearly 85,000 — live in New Zealand. The parameters of their relationship are being tested as China has deepened its presence in the Pacific.

自1965年以来，库克群岛实现了自治，但在国防方面依赖新西兰。库克群岛民众持有新西兰护照，其中大多数——近8.5万人——居住在新西兰。随着中国在太平洋地区加深影响，两国间关系的边界正面临考验。

6月，库克群岛主岛拉罗汤加的一个游客市场。大多数游客来自新西兰。

In 2022, China signed a security agreement with the Solomon Islands, another small Pacific nation, heightening fears that Beijing was aiming to establish a military foothold in the region. Both Chinese and Cook Islands officials have said that their pact does not include security or military matters.

2022年，中国与另一个太平洋小国——所罗门群岛签署安全协议，引发外界对北京意图在该地区建立军事据点的担忧。中方与库克群岛官员均表示，他们的协议不涉及安全或军事事务。

New Zealand’s intelligence chief, in a speech earlier this year, warned that China’s ambition in making inroads into the Pacific was to “link economic and security cooperation, create competing regional architectures.” China’s embassy in Wellington called his comments disinformation, saying there is no “secret agenda” to the Cook Islands agreement.

新西兰情报机构负责人在今年早些时候的一次演讲中警告称，中国在太平洋推进势力的雄心是要“将经济与安全合作捆绑起来，打造竞争性的区域架构”。中国驻惠灵顿大使馆对此回应称，这种言论是虚假信息，并表示与库克群岛的协议中没有任何“隐藏议程”。

David Capie, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, said it was clear that New Zealand’s objections had to do with Beijing signaling increased military ambitions in the region.

惠灵顿维多利亚大学战略研究中心主任戴维·凯皮表示，新西兰的反对显然与北京在该地区日益凸显的军事扩张野心有关。

“In a different strategic context, that was fine. With different partners, that was probably fine,” he said. “The strategic context has changed.”

“若处于不同的战略环境，此举本无不妥；若与不同对象合作，或许也无可厚非，”他说，“但战略环境已然今非昔比。”

The Cook Islands, one of the smallest of the Pacific island nations, has also been a focal point of emerging competition over seabed mining. The agreement with China included pledges to cooperate on exploring seabed minerals. The United States last month reached its own deal with the Cook Islands on mining the sea floor.

库克群岛是太平洋岛国中最小的国家之一，它还成为新兴的海底采矿竞争的焦点。与中国的协议中包含了共同勘探海底矿产的承诺。美国上个月也与库克群岛达成了海底采矿的协议。

Rashneel Kumar, editor of Cook Island News, which broke the news of New Zealand’s funding pause, said that, like other small Pacific island nations with developmental challenges and climate change risks, his country needed support wherever it could get it. All around Avarua, the capital, are physical reminders of this — the courthouse, the police headquarters, the national stadium, each built by China.

《库克群岛新闻》主编拉什尼尔·库马尔表示，他所在的国家和其他面临发展挑战及气候变化风险的太平洋小岛屿国家一样，需要争取到尽可能多的支持。在首都阿瓦鲁阿，随处可见这一点的实体证明——法院、警察总部、国家体育场，都是由中国建造的。

“The feeling is there that China has helped us in some areas and we are grateful for that,” he said. “But the general consensus is, we should be careful who we partner with.”

“人们感受到，中国在某些方面确实帮助了我们，我们对此心存感激，”他说。“但整体的共识是，我们在选择合作伙伴时应该保持谨慎。”