Taiwan applies to join TPP free trade group

Taipei [Taiwan], September 22 (ANI): Taiwan on Wednesday filed an official application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade group, local media reported.
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is a free trade agreement (FTA) between Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam. It was signed by these 11 countries in March 2018 in Santiago, Chile.
Taiwan has filed an official application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership trade group, Taiwan News reported citing Economic Affairs Vice Minister Chen Chern-chyi as saying on Wednesday.
This comes after China submitted its own application on September 16. The planned Trans-Pacific Partnership became the CPTPP after then United States President Donald Trump decided to leave the project, allowing Japan to become the leading economy in the group, said the publication.
Meanwhile, experts recently warned that once China was allowed to join, Taiwan would face more obstacles in becoming part of a wide regional trade alliance, reported Taiwan News.
Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.
Taipei, on the other hand, has countered the Chinese aggression by increasing strategic ties with democracies including the US, which has been repeatedly opposed by Beijing. China has threatened that "Taiwan's independence" means war.
On June 1, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to complete reunification with self-ruled Taiwan and vowed to smash any attempts at formal independence for the island. (ANI)