Published Date: 2021-11-10
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.