The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has drawn up action plans for next year to push Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a foreign affairs official said yesterday.
Canada is to host next year’s CPTPP meeting, presenting a “window of opportunity” for Taiwan to pursue the bid, Department of International Cooperation and Economic Affairs Director-General Vivian Lien (連玉蘋) told the Legislative Yuan.
Taiwan is to establish unofficial communication channels next year to hold consultations with CPTPP member states, which is the first step before the CPTPP Commission sets up a working group to negotiate the accession request, she said.
Photo: AFP
The nation is also to form communication missions to some of the member states that are opinion leaders — such as Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the UK — to formulate models and narratives that are conducive to Taiwan’s participation in the bloc, she said.
For countries that are unsupportive of Taiwan’s bid, the nation is to continue to communicate with them through chambers of commerce, think tanks, academia and the industry, she added.
Meanwhile, Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中) in charge of economic and trade negotiations, on Sunday said that principal aim of the Taiwanese delegation to this year’s APEC forum is to build up support for Taiwan’s CPTPP participation.
Deng, who is part of the Taiwanese delegation that is attending the APEC summit in San Francisco, which opened on Saturday last week and runs until Friday, said that the forum should be an important opportunity for Taiwanese delegates to meet representatives from CPTPP member countries.
The Taiwanese delegation is aiming to hold as many bilateral meetings as possible to express Taiwan’s strong desire to join the CPTPP and brief member states about the preparatory efforts the country has been making.
The CPTPP, which grew out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership that the US left 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.
Its 11 signatories are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
The UK formally signed the trade agreement on July 16 and is to join when its accession is ratified by all parties.
Taiwan submitted its application to join the CPTPP on Sept. 22, 2021, less than a week after China also applied for membership.
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