New Zealand Minister of Trade Damien O’Connor says that members of the CPTPP trade bloc welcome applications to join the bloc from the UK as well as from both China and Taiwan. O’Connor referred to Taiwan by “Chinese Taipei”, the name under which it takes part in APEC and other international forums.
O’Connor also said, however, that these prospective new members of the trade bloc will have to consider the trade standards they will need to abide by if admitted. He also said that not all APEC members are CPTPP members, and that the process of admission to the CPTPP will be different from that used to accept new APEC members.
O’Connor’s remark about adhering to certain trade standards may also stoke further concerns among Taiwanese officials about an upcoming referendum on pork imports. In December, Taiwan’s voters will go to the polls to decide whether to reinstate a ban on imports of pork treated with the additive ractopamine.
Several member countries allow the use of ractopamine on their pig farms, and all members allow the import of ractopamine-treated pork. Both Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua and Premier Su Tseng-chang have recently expressed concerns that wrangling over ractopamine in Taiwan could delay acceptance into the CPTPP or endanger Taiwan’s chances of getting in at all.
Wang has also said that any delay to Taiwan’s admission to the trade bloc would give China a chance to join first, and then use its position as a bloc member to veto Taiwan’s application.