Taiwan will continue to solicit support from member countries to join a regional trade bloc even though the group last week decided not to initiate Taiwan’s accession process, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official in charge of the membership bid said yesterday.
It is regrettable that members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) did not reach agreement on the issue at a summit in Vancouver, Canada, Department of International Cooperation and Economic Affairs Director-General Lien Yu-ping (連玉蘋) said.
CPTPP members were unable to decide at the summit on allowing a working group to be formed that would have advanced Taiwan’s application.
Photo: Huang Chin-hsuan, Taipei Times
Taiwan’s international participation has always faced pressure and therefore the bid needed greater effort due to the “geopolitical reality,” Lien said, hinting that the China factor stood in the way.
However, Taiwan will not give up and will continue its efforts that began when it applied to join the trade bloc on Sept. 22, 2021, to convince the CPTPP members that it has met the high standards required to be part of the bloc, she said.
The CPTPP on Thursday launched an accession process for Costa Rica, which applied to join the bloc in August 2022 — a year after Taiwan.
China’s application to join, submitted about a week before Taiwan’s in 2021, was also put on hold at the meeting.
Asked why the bids of Taiwan and China were held up, while Costa Rica’s moved forward, Canadian Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development Mary Ng (伍鳳儀) said that the agreement remained “completely open to new members,” but a consensus among members is needed to advance an application.
She did not say if member countries’ “one China” policies had prevented Taiwan’s application from moving forward, only saying that Canada’s “one China” policy remained unchanged and reiterating the need for consensus among members to consider membership bids.
Politico last week reported before the annual summit that Taiwan met the trade standards required to join, but that CPTPP members could not reach a consensus on Taiwan’s application, citing unnamed officials from member nations.
The report said Taiwan’s bid had been held up, “because of the politics with China.”
Beijing has opposed Taiwan’s accession to the CPTPP. Taiwanese officials are worried that a successful bid by China could sink Taiwan’s hopes of joining the bloc.
The CPTPP’s decision to focus on Costa Rica first rather than Taiwan or China still had a silver lining — Beijing’s bid was not considered before Taiwan’s although it had applied for membership earlier, Lien said.
She was referring to the requirements set by the CPTPP for new members, which include meeting the trade pact’s high standards, demonstrating a strong track record of meeting trade obligations and garnering a consensus among all members.
Taiwan believes China is not qualified to join the CPTPP based on those principles, given its history of using economic coercion against countries with which it disagrees with, Lien said.
It could take another year before next year’s CPTPP summit to consider Taiwan’s application, she said.
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 later this month.
Canada is this year’s chair of the CPTPP Commission and Australia is to take over the role next year.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
POLICY UNCHANGED? Despite Trump’s remarks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured that US policy toward Taiwan has remained consistent since the 1970s US President Donald Trump on Wednesday again refused to make clear his stance on protecting Taiwan from a hypothetical takeover by China during his presidency. Asked by a reporter during a Cabinet meeting whether it was his policy that China would never take Taiwan by force while he is president, Trump declined to give a definitive answer. “I never comment on that,” he said. “I don’t comment on it because I don’t want to ever put myself in that position.” Trump also reiterated that he has a “great relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and said that Washington welcomes good relations with
RSS