Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday said that no member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) has expressed opposition to Taiwan applying to join the trade bloc.
“So far, we have not met any one country [that is a CPTPP member] that has openly or privately expressed their objection to Taiwan’s bid,” Wu told lawmakers at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
The government had been in talks with all 11 CPTPP members about Taiwan’s possible membership, Wu said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Asked on Friday if Australia supported Taiwan joining the bloc, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that the CPTPP was “a relationship between nation states that are recognized.”
Speaking at the APEC summit in Bangkok, Albanese described Taiwan as an “economy,” inferred by some to mean that Taiwan did not qualify to join the CPTPP.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that this interpretation is at odds with the CPTPP’s charter, which states that “any State or separate customs territory may accede to this Agreement.”
On Saturday, Albanese offered a slightly modified response, stating that applications would be “dealt with on consensus for economies applying to join the CPTPP” and judged based on their individual merits.
At yesterday’s legislative meeting, Wu said the Australian government had made it clear to Taipei that it welcomed “all economic entities” that meet the CPTPP’s high standards to join the bloc.
Wu said that following Albanese comments on Friday, the ministry had reached out to an “authoritative Australian government branch,” which made the clarification.
The ministry did not reveal the source of the clarification, and the Australian government has not issued a statement to that effect.
The CPTPP — which grew out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership abandoned by the US in January 2017 — is one of the world’s biggest trade blocs, representing a market of 500 million people and accounting for 13.5 percent of global trade.
For a new member to join the CPTPP, all 11 signatories — Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam — must approve the application.
Taiwan applied on Sept. 22 last year to join the CPTPP, less than one week after China submitted its application.
Asked when Taiwan might join the trade bloc, Wu told lawmakers that the CPTPP is focusing on reviewing the UK’s bid and is unlikely to deal with Taiwan’s application any time soon.
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