Taipei-Japan's support is crucial to Taiwan's bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a Taiwanese international trade expert said Sunday, amid reports that Taiwan's application is expected to be discussed by the bloc's decision-making body on Thursday.
According to media reports, the CPTPP Commission is set to hold an online meeting Thursday to discuss the membership applications from Taiwan, China and Ecuador. Public attention will be focused on whether Taiwan's application process would be stalled due to political factors, the reports said.
Taiwan applied last September to join the CPTPP, an 11-nation trading bloc in the Asia-Pacific region that represents 495 million consumers and 13.5 percent of the global economy.
If Japan, the CPTPP leader, supports the idea of members first conducting bilateral consultations with Taiwan to facilitate its CPTPP accession, before dealing with political issues, that will be in Taiwan's favor, said Roy Chun Lee (??), senior deputy CEO of the Taiwan WTO & RTA Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER).
Meanwhile, Taiwan should proactively seek discussions on trade issues of mutual concern with CPTPP members and demonstrate that it is well prepared to join the regional trade bloc, Lee said.
According to Lee, the discussions in the next CPTPP Commission meeting is expected to focus on issues regarding the United Kingdom's accession to the trade bloc.
If the online CPTPP Commission meeting is held on Thursday as reported, it is unlikely that Taiwan, China and Ecuador's applications will be discussed, because they are in the early stages of being processed, he said.
According to the CPTPP's accession rules and procedures, accession requires the unanimous consent of its members to begin market access negotiations. If the CPTPP Commission decides to commence the accession process with an aspirant economy, it will establish a working group to negotiate the accession of that economy.
Via the accession working group, the aspirant economy will be expected to negotiate its market access offers and demonstrate how it will meet the benchmarks, the rules state.
After finalizing the negotiations, the accession working group will submit a written report to the Commission on the terms and conditions for the aspirant economy's accession to the CPTPP, according to the regulations.
Taiwan currently is in the initial stage of access negotiations, and it has to conduct bilateral consultations with at least eight CPTPP members, Lee said.
Tokyo is expected to support Taiwan's bid to join the CPTPP, as Taiwan recently decided to lift its ban by the end of the month on most food imports from areas in Japan affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, he said.
If Japan voices support for Taiwan, the other seven countries in the CPTPP decision-making body are likely to also back Taiwan in the bilateral negotiations, Lee said.
Some countries, however, may decline to hold consultations with Taiwan, due to the China factor, he said, adding that the possibility of China using economic coercion against the main CPTPP members cannot be ruled out.
Commenting Sunday on the reports, Taiwan's top trade negotiator and Minister-without-Portfolio John Deng (???) said Taiwan cannot confirm when the CPTPP Commission meeting will be held, as it is not a member of the bloc.
"What's most important is that we be well prepared," for accession to the CPTPP, he said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel