Tsai seeks Canada’s support for CPTPP – 台北時報

• Staff writer, with CNA

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday expressed hope that Canada would support Taiwan’s bid to join a cross-national trade pact during a meeting with Canadian Trade Office in Taipei Executive Director Jim Nickel.

Taiwan’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) would allow Taiwan and Canada to work together to promote economic prosperity, as the two nations have complementary economies, Tsai said.

Taiwan in September 2021 applied to join the CPTPP, one of the world’s biggest trade blocs with a market of about 500 million people and accounting for 13.5 percent of global trade.

Photo: CNA

Any new applicant requires the unanimous support of its signatories, which currently include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

Hence, the government is keen to join the trade bloc ahead of China, which submitted its application less than a week prior to Taiwan.

The Office of Trade Negotiations in January said that the government would seek the approval of CPTPP member states to establish a “working group” this year to review Taiwan’s application.

The trade bloc’s commission is in negotiations with the UK, which submitted a formal request to join the trade bloc in February 2021.

Meanwhile, Tsai expressed hope that Taiwan and Canada would further broaden bilateral collaboration with the help of Nickel, who took up his post in September last year.

Nickel did not touch upon the CPTPP, a news release issued by the Presidential Office after the meeting showed.

He expressed hope that Canada could further deepen its trade and economic partnerships with Taiwan, especially in the areas of supply chain security, net zero emissions and digital transition.

Canada also looks forward to strengthening its people-to-people ties with Taiwan through cultural, educational and parliamentary exchanges, he added.