Taiwan is working on “informal consultations” with member states of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) before it formally applies to join the trade bloc, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said yesterday.
The ministry on Monday said there is an ongoing disinformation campaign online accusing the government of not having submitted an application and that the nation would not be admitted because of pressure from Beijing.
All nations hoping to join the trade group have to obtain the consensus of all member states through informal consultations before they can submit a formal application, Ou told a news briefing in Taipei.
Photo: Peng Wan-hsin, Taipei Times
Taiwan is in the middle of conducting informal consultations with the pact’s 11 member states, which are aware of the nation’s determination and the steps it is to take for participation, she said.
Joining the CPTPP is crucial for the nation’s economic growth, and Taiwan looks forward to establishing reciprocal trade relations with member states, Ou said.
Among the 11 countries, Malaysia, Peru, Chile and Brunei have not yet completed their domestic legal process for joining the pact, Ou said.
No other new member state would be admitted at present, she said.
The 11 members represent about 13 percent of global GDP, according to information from the Executive Yuan.
Taiwan’s ban on food imports from five Japanese prefectures after the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster is considered a hurdle for its bid to join the pact, while there is speculation that the government would seek to lift the ban.
The US in 2017 withdrew from the TPP, the precursor of the CPTPP.
Kurt Campbell, a former US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, earlier this month warned about China’s growing clout in regional and global economy.
Beijing has joined the 15-country Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and has expressed an interest in the CPTPP, which should sound a knell for Washington, Campbell said.
He added that he did not think US president-elect Joe Biden’s administration would step into a multilateral institution very soon given the country’s domestic instability.
Additional reporting by CNA
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS