(Central News Agency reporter Cheng Aifen, Vancouver, 21st) Taiwan’s application to join the CPTPP has been suppressed. Canadian think tank experts have called on Ottawa to show leadership in the presidency to help Taiwan. Xu Jiaqing, chairman of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Council, who is visiting Canada, affirmed Ottawa’s support for Taiwan and emphasized that Taiwan’s membership will create win-win prospects for CPTPP.
Representatives of member states of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) will gather in Canada for multiple meetings this year to discuss how to handle applications from six economies including China, Taiwan, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Uruguay and Ukraine. Now it is reported that Taiwan’s application has been blocked at the first hurdle.
Because CPTPP membership is decided by consensus, all member states must agree before new applicants can join.
According to the CPTPP charter, in order to make the formal negotiations between the applicant country and the conference working group more efficient, the applicant country is encouraged to consult with all member states first. However, unexpectedly, some member states use the excuse that “all member states need to reach consensus”. Refuse to negotiate with Taiwan.
Shen Rongqin, an associate professor at York University in Canada, told CNA: “It is unreasonable for a few member states to use procedures to block Taiwan, because the so-called ‘consensus decision’ is a decision-making power when formal negotiations are finally launched and the applicant country is agreed to join the membership, not in the early stages. At the stage of informal consultations, using “lack of consensus” to reject Taiwan violates the CPTPP’s high standards of openness, transparency and adherence to the rule of law. Obviously, this is a trick played by China behind the scenes.”
Hugh Stephens and Tim Sargent, researchers at the Canadian Institute for Peace and Diplomacy, wrote an article exposing this issue in early April. The article stated that some member states are unwilling to contact Taiwan due to Beijing’s influence. “It is an unprecedented phenomenon for a non-member to try to block another non-member’s application.” Canada, which holds the chairmanship, is obliged to solve this problem.
Stuart and Sargent said that Canada should lead the committee in clarifying the rules of the game, that is: informal consultations do not require unanimous decision-making, and require member states to be obliged to respond to the request for informal consultations from the applicant country within a reasonable time. The two called for “allowing those economies that clearly meet the standards and have the ability to fully participate to move forward faster” to benefit the CPTPP.
Taiwanese overseas Chinese and Taiwanese businessmen are very concerned about Taiwan’s plight. Xu Jiaqing said that all walks of life are looking for countermeasures. In addition to Taiwan’s active promotion of goals, Canada’s political, business and academic circles are very powerful. He also hopes that Canada, as the country that chairs the CPTPP this year, can show leadership and solve blind spots in the membership process.
She told CNA that she believed things would move forward for the better. “It is a good thing for both the applicant and participating countries that the procedures can be clear and transparent. In order to create a better free trade environment, I don’t think CPTPP will let this situation go and a solution will definitely be found.”
The Canadian GTMA Global Health Association will lead a delegation to Ottawa at the end of April to visit a number of Canadian senators and representatives across parties to help lobby Taiwan to join the CPTPP. President Qiu Lilian said: “CPTPP is important to both Taiwan and Canada. The overseas Chinese community is contributing its efforts and hopes to make Taiwan and Canada win-win.” (Editor: Wei Shu) 1130422
