US, New Zealand plan port upgrade at former WWII base in Cook Islands

The United States and New Zealand have pledged $60 million to upgrade a port on a former World War II-era military base in the Cook Islands, the three countries announced Tuesday. The port deal was signed by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown ahead of the annual Pacific Islands Forum in Palau. Washington is contributing $50 million to the port project on Penrhyn Atoll, 1,800 miles south of Honolulu, while Wellington will spend another $10 million and manage construction, the three countries said in a joint statement. The Cook Islands is a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand, which is responsible for its security. The 15-island group encompasses an exclusive economic zone that includes 757,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean. The sea floor there holds an estimated 7.4 billion tons of polymetallic nodules containing manganese, cobalt, nickel, copper and rare earths. “This project underscores the United States’ strong commitment to our partners in the Pacific and builds on the Critical Minerals Framework the United States and the Cook Islands signed earlier this year,” Landau said in the joint statement, noting historic U.S. ties to Penrhyn Atoll. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Harriet Lane approaches Rarotonga in the Cook Islands in June 2025. (Austin Wiley/U.S. Navy) U.S. Navy Seabees began work on a runway on the island, also known as Tongareva, in 1942 with two additional runways added later. During the war, Navy PBY Catalina flying boats and U.S. Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bombers operated from the island with about 1,000 support personnel who departed in 1946. “This is a positive and hugely significant initiative that demonstrates the strength of New Zealand’s partnerships with both the Cook Islands and the United States,” Peters said in the joint statement. The upgraded port will be a lifeline for the atoll, allowing for safer landings, better access to services, and stronger connections with the world, Brown said in the statement. “This wharf upgrade complements our new domestic shipping investments and our own efforts in improving transport connections,” he said. The joint statement made no mention of defense use for the port. However, Paul Buchanan, an American security analyst based in New Zealand, said by email Wednesday that the project appears to be about establishing a forward U.S. military base. “My impression is that the US would like a naval base, tracking station and small land facilities in that very remote part of the South Pacific so that they can counter the expanding [Chinese navy] presence in the region,” he said. The project follows economic deals negotiated between the Cook Islands and China last year that caused a diplomatic rift with New Zealand, Buchanan said. New Zealand and the Cook Islands signed a defense and security declaration in April. The Cook Islands’ earlier agreements with China would be affected, Peters told New Zealand national broadcaster 1News at the time. “The clear interpretation of that is that the so-called agreements have now got massive limitations to them,” he said, according to the broadcaster. ASIA/PACIFICNAVY Seth Robson is a Tokyo-based reporter who has been with Stars and Stripes since 2003. He has been stationed in Japan, South Korea and Germany, with frequent assignments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, Australia and the Philippines. 

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Source – Stars and Stripes