Cook Islands' Prime Minister Mark Brown visits National Deep Sea Centre in Qingdao.

New Zealand’s top spy has warned of the security risks posed by China’s growing influence in the Pacific and said his agency would ramp up scrutiny of the Cook Islands after the nation deepened ties with Beijing.

Security Intelligence Service Director-General Andrew Hampton said the focus of Pacific nations on economic and transnational crime issues had opened the door for China to sign strategic deals with them that linked “economic and security cooperation”.

China wanted to “create competing regional architectures, and expand its influence with Pacific Island countries”, posing foreign interference and espionage risks, he said in a speech to the Zealand Institute of International Affairs in Wellington late on Thursday.

“The People’s Republic of China remains a complex intelligence concern in New Zealand,” he said. “We think it’s important to ensure our Pacific partners are aware of the risks too.”

In recent years, Beijing has struck deals with a number of Pacific nations that it says are aimed at boosting economic development in the region.

Last month, Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown signed agreements with China spanning education, the economy, infrastructure, fisheries, disaster management and seabed mining.

It set off alarm bells in New Zealand, with which the Cooks have constitutional ties that require the two countries to consult on security, defence and foreign policy issues.

Hampton said he had travelled to the Cook Islands to share classified intelligence on foreign interference and espionage risks with Brown before the deal was signed, but will now be stepping up its scrutiny of the ties between the Cooks and Beijing.

"With the Cook Islands is developing deeper relationships with other parties, this will necessitate an even stronger focus from my agency on national security risks," he said.

Hampton also reaffirmed New Zealand’s involvement in the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network – which also includes Britain, the U.S., Canada and Australia – despite concerns over the Trump administration’s move to thaw ties with Russia.

The alliance was the “most long-standing and impactful intelligence sharing partnership in our history”, he said.

“The sharing of Five Eyes intelligence insights has, without a doubt, enhanced the safety and security of New Zealand.”

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