Taiwan on track to apply to join trans-Pacific trade pact

Taiwan will submit an application to join the revamped version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership once it has finished informal consultations with its existing 11 members, talks which are ongoing, the island’s foreign ministry said.

While a member of the World Trade Organization, many countries are wary of signing trade deals with Taiwan fearing objections from China, which claims the democratic island as its own territory, and Taiwan has sought greater access to multilateral deals.

Tech-powerhouse Taiwan has been angling to join the 11-country Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), signed in 2018.

In a statement late Sunday, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said that according to the processes of the CPTPP, new member applicants needed to complete informal talks with existing members first and “reach a consensus” before applying.

Those talks are ongoing, and member countries “already clearly understand our determination and steps to seeking membership, and the attitude is quite positive”, the ministry said in a statement.

Source: The Japan Times