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TAIPEI: Taiwan will submit an application to join the renewed version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership once it has finalized informal consultations with its 11 current members, conversations that are ongoing, the island’s Foreign Ministry said.
While a member of the World Trade Organization, many countries are wary of signing trade agreements with Taiwan for fear of objections from China, which claims the democratic island as its own territory, and Taiwan has sought greater access to multilateral agreements.
Taiwan’s tech powerhouse has been looking to join the 11-country Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), signed in 2018.
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In a statement late Sunday, the Taiwanese Foreign Ministry said that according to CPTPP processes, new applicant members were to complete informal discussions with existing members first and “reach consensus” before running.
Those talks are ongoing and member countries “already clearly understand our determination and the steps to seek membership, and the attitude is quite positive,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Once the informal consultation with all member states is completed, we will formally submit an application for membership in accordance with the procedures,” he added, without giving a deadline.
The original 12-member agreement, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), was left in limbo in early 2017 when US President Donald Trump withdrew.
It was renamed the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and links Canada, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
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A potential problem for Taiwan could be a parallel application for membership from China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said last month that his country would “actively consider” subscribing to 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 largest free trade bloc.
Taiwan is not a member of that group.
