Analysis | Will China’s new data security laws complicate Beijing’s move to join Pacific Rim trade pact?

Beijing’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a multilateral trade pact covering modern issues such as digital trade, could prove complicated because of China’s new data security laws that restrict cross-border flows of information, according to a government researcher.

Some members of the CPTPP are expected to demand that China modify its laws and policies to meet the trade pact’s standards, according to a recent article published on WeChat by Xu Chengjin, an associate researcher at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

China last week formally applied to join the CPTPP, which includes Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and six other countries. Established in 2018, this multilateral trade deal has commitments to labour and environmental protections, and rules to prevent market distortion by state enterprises, protect intellectual property and govern financial services in a combined market of about half a billion people and roughly 13.5 per cent of the global economy.

Beijing’s application to join the CPTPP comes amid China’s implementation this year of new rules and regulations restricting cross-border data flows and enforcing data localisation. These are covered by the Data Security Law (DSL), which took effect on September 1, and the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) that will be in force from November 1.