New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in funding to the Cook Islands over agreements the smaller Pacific nation made with China.

STORY: New Zealand has suspended millions in budget funding to the Cook Islands over that nation's growing ties with China.Tensions between the two escalated in February after Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown signed a strategic partnership with Beijing,

New Zealand has paused millions of dollars in funding to the Cook Islands over wide-ranging deals that its smaller Pacific neighbour had made with China. Wellington, the Cook Islands' biggest funder,