Is the TPP a New Field of Conflict between China and Taiwan?

Yesterday, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen announced that Taiwan has applied to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP).

Since taking office in 2016, President Tsai has wanted to join the TPP. Therefore, it might be able to say that President Tsai and the Taiwanese Government are motivated by China's application for membership on 16 September.

China has already submitted its application to the New Zealand Government, which is responsible for the TPP Secretariat. The application by Taiwan is against the principle of "One China" for China. As such, it is certain that China will push back hard.

On the other hand, the reaction of the 11 TPP member countries to China's application has been complicated: Singapore and Malaysia are expressing their welcome, while Mexico and Australia have expressed their disapproval.

The decision of the TPP is unanimous. Therefore it will be important for the member countries to coordinate the handling of applications from China and Taiwan. It will also be interesting to check what kind of pressure will be applied by China on the members.

At the same time, there will be practical issues such as whether China will accept the TPP's systems and standards, which cover areas ranging from trade facilitation and sanitary and phytosanitary inspection to competition, labour and investment, as well as dispute settlement and capacity building, or whether China will demand a relaxation of the default standards.

Further, given the fact that the economic partnership framework that originally began with Singapore, New Zealand, Brunei and Chile was transformed into a US-led economic bloc in November 2009 with the announcement of the Obama Administration's participation, the accession of China, a possible counterweight, would change the nature of the TPP.

In the future, member countries will have to deal with applications for membership by China and Taiwan, keeping in mind the growing presence of China not only in the economic sphere but also in the security sphere.

In this meaning, the future course of action on the application by China and Taiwan to join the TPP will be closely watched.

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「TPP加盟申請」は中台の新たな対立をもたらすか

9月23日、台湾の蔡英文総統は台湾が環太平洋経済連携協定（TPP）への加盟の申請を行ったことを明らかにした。TPPについてはすでに中国が加盟を申請しているため、今後中台の申請がどのように扱われるか、あるいはTPPへの加盟を巡りどのような駆け引きや対立が起きるかが注目される。