Taiwan applied to join the multilateral free trade framework "Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership" (CPTPP) in September 2021, but so far no joining working group has been established. Some experts said that in addition to continuing to win support from the business community, political circles and government overseas, it is also important to accumulate consensus within Taiwan.
Michael Reilly, the former British representative to Taiwan, pointed out that if Taiwan’s industry and political circles have a strong consensus on joining the CPTPP, not only will the government’s external lobbying be more convincing, but Taiwanese companies’ overseas partners will also have more incentive to put pressure on their own governments, prompting officials to face up to the benefits Taiwan’s joining the CPTPP can bring to each member economy.
MacRuili mentioned that if the official and private sectors of the member economies cannot be convinced that the benefits of promoting Taiwan's entry into the CPTPP will far outweigh the costs and risks that may be faced in the process, including the risk of economic coercion from Beijing, then when the member economies have other more pressing issues to deal with and the bilateral trade volume with Taiwan is not large enough to be worth the effort, it may be difficult for all walks of life to expect existing members of the CPTPP to exert political will and invest resources to actively solve the issue of Taiwan's membership.
In addition, individual member economies may also assess that Taiwan's interest in CPTPP may not change with different governing teams or due to pressure from public opinion.
For example, Costa Rica was originally scheduled to join the membership before the end of this year, but at the end of October it temporarily announced that it had withdrawn its application. The reasons included that the government faced strong backlash from domestic industries, especially agriculture and animal husbandry.
Costa Rica applied for membership in 2022, and formal negotiations began in 2024 and were completed this year. However, just before signing the membership protocol, it announced the withdrawal of its application.
The UK will establish an "Enhanced Trade Partnership" (ETP) with Taiwan in 2023 and is the first European country to sign an institutionalized bilateral economic and trade framework with Taiwan. Last year, it went a step further and signed three sub-agreements under the ETP framework, focusing on digital trade, investment, as well as energy and net-zero emissions.
MacRuili pointed out that the content of the ETP echoes the principles enshrined in the CPTPP and can be regarded as a stepping stone for Taiwan to join the CPTPP. It can also be a model for Taiwan to promote economic, trade and investment relations with existing CPTPP members such as Japan, Canada, and Australia.
MacRully was stationed in Taiwan from 2005 to 2009. During his tenure, he successfully promoted the United Kingdom to become the first Western country to open visa-free entry to Taiwan. He is currently a senior researcher at the Taiwan Studies Center at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. He recently wrote a policy report on Taiwan and the CPTPP titled "Untying the Gordian Knot."
A closed-door roundtable forum was held within the British Parliament on the 11th to discuss the development of CPTPP and the role that the UK can play in CPTPP. Attendees included members of Congress, experts and scholars, representatives of CPTPP member economies, industry figures, etc. MacRuili was one of the discussants.
Andrew., CEO of the British think tank China Strategic Risk Institute (CSRI), who hosted the forum. Andrew Yeh told CNA today that the British economy has stalled and is in urgent need of new trading partners to promote economic growth and employment.
CPTPP is the UK’s largest trading partnership in the Asia-Pacific region, and various statistics show that the Asia-Pacific region is the primary source of global economic growth.
Andrew. Ye said that Taiwan is one of the fastest-growing economies in the Asia-Pacific region. Expanding the CPTPP and including Taiwan will facilitate economic, trade and investment exchanges between the UK and Taiwan, bring considerable benefits to the UK, and strengthen the UK’s economic security and supply chain resilience.
The UK signed the CPTPP membership agreement in July 2023, and membership will officially take effect in December 2024, making the UK the first European economy to join the CPTPP.
Representative to the UK Yao Jinxiang said at the closed-door forum that in terms of membership qualifications, the CPTPP has no geographical restrictions, and you can participate as long as it is in certain tariff areas; Taiwan is currently a member of important large-scale multilateral economic structures such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference (APEC).
Taiwan is the world's 20th largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). Yao Jinxiang pointed out that Taiwan not only has excellent economic strength, but also meets the high standard membership requirements of CPTPP. Relevant requirements can also be found in the Taiwan-UK ETP.
However, although Taiwan's joining the CPTPP will help promote the growth of existing member economies, Yao Jinxiang mentioned that existing members are worried about economic coercion from Beijing, which constitutes a major obstacle to Taiwan's membership. Ironically, the CPTPP has clearly expressed its opposition to economic coercion and has achieved "consensus" on this issue.
The joint statement of the CPTPP ministerial meeting released in Australia in November last year pointed out that "economic coercion does not meet the high standards of the CPTPP."
In addition, the statement reiterated that CPTPP members have a "strong willingness" to work together to "deter" economic coercion and mitigate risks related to economic coercion.
Yao Jinxiang emphasized that Taiwan hopes that the United Kingdom and other countries with similar ideals can take Taiwan's application seriously based on the consensus of "opposing economic coercion" and ensure that the review mechanism is based on the principle of "strength" and upholds a fair and independent spirit. (Editor: Chen Chenggong)
