Member states of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) have welcomed Taiwan’s application to join the trade pact, New Zealand Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O’Connor said yesterday.
O’Connor made the remark at news conference after a ministerial meeting at an APEC forum a day earlier.
Asked whether New Zealand supports Taiwan’s inclusion in the CPTPP, O’Connor said that the members have “always been open to ascension by applicants.”
The bloc welcomed membership applications from Taiwan, the UK and China, he said.
It would be up to “the applicant economies to reach the standards that we have set and that we believe work well for us,” he said.
The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has said that any economy seeking CPTPP ascension must ensure “the commitments they make on access for goods, services, investment, government procurement and temporary entry for business persons meet the high standards agreed by existing CPTPP members.”
“New Zealand has all along been a supporter of growing CPTPP through accession by those economies willing to meet the agreement’s high standards,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said via e-mail, replying to a request for comment by the Central News Agency.
“The CPTPP group as a whole, through the CPTPP Commission, [will] decide whether to commence accession processes with Chinese Taipei,” the spokesperson said, referring to Taiwan.
Taiwan in September formally applied to join the trade bloc under the name “the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu” through its representative in New Zealand, who sent the application to the foreign ministry.
New Zealand acts as a depositary for the trade pact and is responsible for passing applications to all member states.
The CPTPP was signed in March 2018 by Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, and took effect at the end of that year, following ratification by more than half of the 11 signatories.
Any new entry requires the unanimous support of all members.
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