ISDS Case Map
China
If Taiwan becomes a member first, China will find itself in the miserable position of having to beg for Taiwan’s consent to join the TPP.
Chinese Taipei is the latest of three countries seeking to join the CPTPP – the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans Pacific Partnership.
When it comes to their position on the applications, CPTPP members are divided. The CPTPP operates on unanimous consent, so if even one country is against an application, membership will not be granted.
China's restrictive practices present fundamental problems for its application to join a major pan-Pacific free trade pact, and if it joins before Taiwan there is a risk it could block their application.
At the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in September 2018, Chinese President proposed that China would launch eight major initiatives in close collaboration with African countries.
When China applied earlier this month to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the renamed 11-nation trade pact spanning Asia and the Pacific, Beijing seemed to hand Australia the rare diplomatic gift of leverage.
Trade between China and Africa almost doubled between 2020 and 2021, and over the last 20 years trade between China and the region has increased twenty-fold.
China will likely fail in its bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership — but its move to submit an application highlighted the lack of U.S. economic policy in Asia-Pacific, said analysts.
Taiwan formally submitted an application to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal, the government said, just days after mainland China filed its bid for membership.
CPTPP members will have a robust discussion on China’s application. It’s hard to argue that Beijing’s trade regime will be in line anytime soon with CPTPP disciplines on state-owned enterprises, labor, digital trade, and intellectual property protection, among other concerns.
