Taiwan has on three occasions missed out on joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), an official said yesterday, calling for decoupling Taiwan’s accession from China’s.
In her resignation, citing chronic health issues, late deputy trade representative Yen Huai-shing (顏慧欣) said the execution of promoting Taiwan’s accession to the CPTPP had been perfunctory.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) has said a task force in charge of the matter would be asked to present goals and a timeline as soon as possible.
Photo courtesy of the Executive Yuan
However, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Taiwan has let three golden opportunities slip.
First, Japan, then-Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, drove the evolution of the CPTPP from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, after the US withdrew from the organization in 2017, they said.
However, Taiwan handicapped itself by continuing a ban on food from five prefectures following the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster, despite Japan publicly supporting Taiwan’s participation, the official said.
The ban was partially lifted in 2022 and the Food and Drug Administration last year announced it would lift the remaining restrictions.
Second, China applied for participation in the CPTPP in September 2021 before Taiwan made an application, putting Taiwan on the defensive, the official said.
Third, Taiwan’s accession has in the past few years been tied to China’s, further posing obstacles, they said.
Accession to the CPTPP must meet the “Auckland Principles”: the applying country must be able to “meet high standards of CPTPP criteria,” “comply with trade commitments” and “accept the consensus-based decisionmaking model,” they said.
While China has problematic state-run businesses and market mechanisms, Taiwan has transparent statutes, free trade and reliable performance records that would better meet the CPTPP’s requirements, the official said.
Some CPTPP member states, such as Japan and Mexico, prefer that China not join, given the risks it might pose to local industries and global supply chains if it exploits the regional trade system to conduct illicit transshipments, they said.
Taiwan should promote the decoupling of its bid to enter the CPTPP from China’s accession, which would help it earn international support and make tangible progress, they added.
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