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CPTPP
EconomyGlobal Economy

China’s bid to join Pacific Rim trade pact heaps pressure on US to step up regional economic strategy

  • China has cited its commitment to regional integration as being behind its application to join the 11-member trade deal
  • Analysts say the move gives Beijing some geopolitical leverage and highlights ‘America’s lack of a trade strategy’ in the Asia-Pacific

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China announced on Thursday that it has formally applied to join a Pacific Rim trade pact abandoned four years ago by the US. Photo: Xinhua
Su-Lin TanandOrange Wang
China has denied its long-awaited application to join a mega Pacific Rim trade pact was timed to counter the “Aukus” security pact between the US, Britain and Australia, reaffirming its intentions to promote economic cooperation while slamming the military alliance as “destructive”.
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On Friday, Beijing said it had signalled nearly a year ago its eagerness to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) – which was abandoned by the US – and had over the past year undertaken steps to advance its application, including talking to a number of the alliance’s 11 member nations.

Last year, after the signing of the world’s largest trade pact, the 15-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), President Xi Jinping made a surprise pledge to join the CPTPP, which Chinese commentators said showed Beijing’s desire to deepen relationships with other countries.

“What I want to emphasise is that China is a firm advocate of trade liberalisation and a participant in cooperation and economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a press conference on Friday. “China’s official application to join CPTPP once again shows China’s firm determination to expand opening up and promote regional economic cooperation.

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“While these two issues [CPTPP and “Aukus”] have been conflated, everyone can see that China is promoting economic cooperation while the US, Britain and Australia are promoting war and destruction.”

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