Taiwan’s Trade Minister John Deng has said he does not expect the Australian government, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, will bow to pressure from Beijing to block Taipei’s bid to enter the newest and largest trading block in the Pacific region.
First formed in 2018, it is worth $203 billion (US$131.7 billion) in two-way trade to Australia. Currently, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) states that the GDP of the trading bloc is US$11.8 trillion and represents 14.2 percent of world trade.
The bloc has received applications from both Taiwan and China. However, membership to the bloc is a long process and does require unanimous agreement from all member nations.
According to the CPTPP Commission, the group has not “yet made a decision on whether to commence negotiations.”
Australian officials have previously said that Beijing would need to remove all tariffs before Canberra would be willing to consider Beijing’s CPTPP bid.
“I cannot imagine Australia will compromise … That would be such a big change from (Australia’s) past 40, 50 years (of) practice and policy,” he told The Australian.
“Australia is one of the leaders in the international trade community. They are a strong advocate for the rules-based (trade order). Everybody knows, in the WTO, Australia is one of the leaders. So we hope that they can continue this spirit and consider Taiwan’s case.”
China Trade Moves to Pressure Australia on CPTPP Application
The comments from the Taiwanese trade minister come after the Chinese Ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, told journalists on May 18 that Beijing was ready to set up a working group to discuss taking part in the CPTPP.However, Trade Minister Don Farrell told The Guardian Australia’s podcast on May 20 that China would have to follow the same processes as the UK.
“There’s a process involved with the CPTPP,” Farrell said. “I guess the significant feature of the CPTPP is that any new applicants must be approved by all of the current members of the CPTPP.”
Farrell noted that it took a long time for the bloc to reach an agreement on the UK admittance, and during that process, the group set out a range of parameters for how countries might gain entry into the FTA.
Former PM Supports Taiwan
Meanwhile, former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has told a Taiwanese think tank that Taiwan’s experiences and views are more important now than ever as democracies around the region face the current geopolitical challenges.“Taiwanese perspectives and experience are more important than ever,” Turnbull said.
“The singular objective of the democracies in the Asia Pacific is to ensure that the strong do not do as they will, that the big fish, in Lee Kwan Yew’s words, do not eat the little fish.
“Our resolute defence of democracy and the right of nations to determine their own destiny free from coercion must never flag or falter.”
The former prime minister also said that he believed the West is more united in the defence of democracy now than ever before, citing the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a watershed moment in the international democratic community.
“Putin’s war has achieved the exact reverse of all that he had expected. Ukraine did not fold up in a few days—the Ukrainian people’s will to fight has been as tenacious as it has been courageous. NATO was not divided—it is stronger than ever, and two neutral nations on Russia’s border, Sweden and Finland, are joining NATO,” he said.
“The lesson from Ukraine is straightforward; democracies must support each other. If Putin had been able to prevail in Ukraine, not only would the democratic sovereignty of that nation have been snuffed out, but every other authoritarian regime would be encouraged to follow Russia’s example.”
