China out to scuttle Taiwan’s move to join trans-Pacific trade pact

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Taiwan has applied to join a major trans-Pacific trade pact, officials confirmed on Thursday, but fears that China is out to scuttle its move as Beijing has said it also wants to become a member of the agreement.</p>
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Taiwan had been lobbying to join the pact for years but on Thursday made a formal application. The island's announcement came less than a week after China said it had also formally applied to join, according to the Bangkok Post.</p>
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There is a "risk" to Taiwan's application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) if China joins first, Taiwan's government said on Thursday.</p>
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Taiwan is excluded from many international bodies because of China's insistence that it is part of "one-China" rather than a separate country.</p>
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Taiwan's chief trade negotiator John Deng told journalists that China always tries to obstruct Taiwan's participation internationally.</p>
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But China's growing threats towards Taiwan have generated international sympathy for the island among western powers. Taiwan’s regional allies like Japan have also welcomed its desire to join.</p>
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China, on the other hand, has been at loggerheads with western powers who have to approve the application for membership. </p>
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Signed by 11 Asia-Pacific countries in 2018, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is the region's biggest free-trade pact and accounts for around 13.5% of the global economy.</p>
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"Most of [the CPTPP's] member countries are Taiwan's key trade partners, accounting for over 24% of Taiwan's international trade," cabinet spokesman Lo Ping-cheng told reporters.</p>
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"Taiwan can't be left out in the world and has to integrate into the regional economy."</p>
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Negotiations for the sweeping trade deal were initially led by the United States as a way to increase its influence in the Asia-Pacific region.</p>
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It was also designed to keep China, which has its own regional trade deal, locked out.</p>
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But former president Donald Trump, who disdained multilateral agreements, pulled out of the deal in 2017.</p>
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The CPTPP is the successor to those negotiations and includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam.</p>