【Taiwan】Responding to the follow-up challenges of applying for CPTPP

The sixth executive committee of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) was held in Singapore at the beginning of the month. It was the first executive committee held by CPTPP after Taiwan formally applied to join the CPTPP on September 22 last year.

 

The Executive Committee is the highest power structure of the CPTPP, and it is even more important for new applicant economies. Because new applicant economies must establish a working group under the consensus decision of the Executive Committee before they can start follow-up negotiations and have the opportunity to join.

 

CPTPP currently has applications from the UK, Mainland China, Taiwan, Ecuador, and Costa Rica. Among them, the United Kingdom first submitted an application on February 1 last year, and the fourth executive committee set up a working group on June 1. According to Japan, the chairman of the working group, the UK may complete the negotiations this year and join the CPTPP.

 

The most important decision of the executive committee this time is to give priority to UK applications, use UK cases as application models, and extend the high standards of CPTPP to other applicant economies; therefore, other cases currently applying will not be discussed one by one. , For Taiwan, which has been waiting for more than a year, of course there will be some disappointment.

 

Moreover, due to the cumbersome procedures for joining the CPTPP, even if the UK successfully joins this year, it will take more than one and a half years of negotiation time. For subsequent applicants, you must be prepared to face lengthy negotiations.

 

CPTPP has a special liking for the UK, the main consideration is to include the UK, CPTPP is no longer limited to the Pacific Rim, but will become a global free trade agreement (FTA). In addition, the UK's positive attitude after Brexit, and the high compatibility of the UK's own economic and trade system with the CPTPP are also important reasons.

 

On the other hand, the CPTPP's cold treatment of other application cases may be due to the large differences among CPTPP members, which cannot simultaneously accommodate applications from multiple economies. It is more likely that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are sensitive to joining the CPTPP at the same time. Mainland China ignores the CPTPP's stipulation that all members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) can apply for membership, and arbitrarily opposes Taiwan's accession. In order to prevent the CPTPP from becoming another battlefield for cross-strait confrontation, the CPTPP chose not to deal with it. China's obstruction has become the main challenge for Taiwan's application to join the CPTPP.

 

For example, although Singapore, which holds the rotating presidency of the CPTPP this year, expressed its welcome to Taiwan's application, it also mentioned that Taiwan's application is like the Taiwan Strait issue, with obvious political complications.