The Cook Islands are seeking to cooperate with China toward its clean energy transition, leveraging the transfer of key technologies, said Mark Brown, the Prime Minister of the island country.
Brown has been paying close attention to climate change and has often stressed the crisis as the biggest threat to the national security and livelihood of the Cook Islands.
In a recent interview with China Central Television (CCTV) in Harbin, capital of northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province, the prime minister reiterated the grave concern for climate change among Pacific island nations, calling for international efforts to advance climate financing solutions.
"We have made numerous statements as the Pacific Islands Forum that climate change is our single biggest threat to our existence. For many of our islands, they are just low-lying atolls, only a few meters above sea level. So the reality of increased storm surges that wash across our islands, the threat of coastal erosion and sea level rise, these are not just threats, these are everyday occurrences that many of our countries face," he said.
"What's important for us is if this is going to happen, how do we build resilience against the impacts of climate change? How do we strengthen things like foreshore development to make sure that our lands are not washed away? How do we strengthen the buildings that we have, that are more continuously being inundated with high winds and cyclones? These are the challenges that we face. There is no doubt that the cost of resilience is disproportionately high for small island countries because of the scale of economies. So reliance on climate finance is a critical component of our own development priorities moving forward. And we continue to advocate for those countries to be able to provide climate financing," Brown added.
The prime minister also highlighted recent progress in Cook Islands' efforts to strengthen cooperation with China on green technology.
"We're looking to collaborate with China in terms of the conversion to renewable energy in our country. Already with our discussions and meetings that we've had with certain key institutions, China has demonstrated that its advanced technology -- battery technology and renewable technology -- will play a significant role in helping countries like us transition to renewable energy," he said.
Cook Islands looks to boost climate cooperation with China: PM
