Neither Singapore nor Malaysia opposed Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) during a meeting in Canada last month, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) told a legislative meeting on Monday reviewing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ budget proposal for next year.
During an annual summit in Vancouver, CPTPP members failed to reach an agreement to initiate Taiwan’s or China’s accession process.
However, they launched the process for Costa Rica, which applied to join the bloc in August 2022, a year after Taiwan and China.
Photo: AP
China applied for CPTPP membership about a week earlier than Taiwan.
Before the summit in Canada, Politico reported that Taiwan met the trade standards required to join, but that CPTPP members could not reach a consensus on its application, citing unnamed officials from member nations.
Regarding the trade pact, Taiwan’s ascension “has not garnered consensus among certain members, notably Malaysia and Singapore,” the report quoted the sources as saying.
Taiwan’s bid had been held up “because of the politics with China,” it reported.
Lin told lawmakers that, unlike the Politico report, he understood that neither Singapore nor Malaysia had opposed Taiwan’s CPTPP accession during the summit.
Singapore has been open to both sides of the Taiwan Strait joining, but the extent of its support for either side “differs,” he said, without elaborating.
Malaysia supports China’s accession process, but did not say during the Canada summit that it opposes Taiwan’s participation, Lin added.
The minister did not disclose the source of his information.
The decision by CPTPP members to focus on Costa Rica first rather than Taiwan or China had a silver lining — that China’s bid was not considered before Taiwan’s, meaning the bloc is not dealing with the bids on a first-come-first-serve principle., he said.
“We did not score this time, but we have made progress,” Lin said.
Beijing has opposed Taiwan’s accession to the CPTPP. This has led Taiwanese officials to worry that a successful bid by China could sink the nation’s hopes of joining the bloc.
The CPTPP is one of the biggest trade blocs in the world, representing about 15 percent of the global economy.
It has 11 members — Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam — with the UK set to become the 12th member this month.
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