Taiwan says it's on the right track to apply to join trans-Pacific trade pact
14 December, 2020
Taiwan will submit an application to become listed on the revamped version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership once it has finished informal consultations with its existing 11 members, talks which are actually ongoing, the island's foreign ministry said.
While an associate of the World Trade Organization, various countries are wary of signing trade deals with Taiwan fearing objections from China, which claims the democratic island as its territory, and Taiwan has sought greater usage of multilateral deals.
Tech-powerhouse Taiwan offers been angling to become listed on the 11-country Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), signed in 2018.
In a statement late on Sunday, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said that in line with the processes of the CPTPP, participant applicants had a need to complete informal talks with existing members first and "reach a consensus" before applying.
Those talks are ongoing, and member countries "already evidently understand our determination and steps to seeking membership, and the attitude is very great", the ministry said in a statement.
"Once the informal consultation with all member claims is completed, we will formally fill out an application for membership in accordance with the methods," it added, without providing a timeframe.
The original 12-member agreement, referred to as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), was thrown into limbo in early 2017 when US President Donald Trump withdrew.
It had been renamed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and links Canada, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
One potential issue for Taiwan is actually a parallel application for membership from China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said last month his country would "actively consider" registering for the CPTPP.
Xi's comments came less than a week after China and 14 other Asia-Pacific economies signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in Hanoi to form the world's most significant free-trade bloc.
Taiwan is not an associate of that group.
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