Australia to impose conditions on China to support entry into the Trans-Pacific Economic Cooperation Agreement

Australian authorities have indicated that They will set conditions on China to support its entry into the Progressive and Comprehensive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), after Beijing announced its interest in joining the trade deal.

In a newspaper interview “Australian Financial Review”, the Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan has said he will call on China to end the boycott of certain Australian products to start negotiations for entry into the CPTPP.

Beijing announced its interest in joining the CPTPP on Thursday, for which it needs the consensus of its members, including Australia, to initiate accession negotiations.

Tehan noted that CPTPP members will demand “high standards” from the Chinese authorities and have complied with the rules of other trade agreements and the World Trade Organization in the past. (MOC).

In recent years diplomatic relations have deteriorated between China and Australia, which has passed laws to limit Chinese interference in its territory and called for an investigation into the origin of covid-19, which angered Beijing.

Chinese officials responded with tariff increases and restrictions on Australian products like barley, wine or meat, which resulted in millions of losses for Australia, which also denounced that the measures go against the WTO

The CPTPP represents 13.4% of global GDP and has been signed by Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, while The United States has also expressed interest in joining.

Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Zhao Lijian criticized Australia’s cooperation agreement with the United States and the United Kingdom for the Indo-Pacific region and that includes manufacturing nuclear powered submarines in Canberra.

Despite the disagreements, China is Australia’s largest trading partner and with a bilateral trade valued at A $ 252,000 million (191,343 million US dollars or 156,681 million euros) in 2019.

United States, Australia and United Kingdom announced this week an ambitious defense pact to stand up to China in the Indo-Pacific, and this will include the development of nuclear submarines for Australians.

The alliance, called AUKUS by the initials in English of the three Anglo-Saxon countries, aims to strengthen trilateral cooperation in advanced defense technologies such as artificial intelligence, underwater systems and long-range surveillance.

(With information from EFE)

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