Pacific trade group leaves Taiwan hanging while Costa Rica moves forward
Taiwan faces set-back in its bid to join major Pacific trade agreement‚ while Costa Rica gets green light for next steps. Island-nation calls for fair treatment in membership process
The pacific trade group CPTPP didnt move forward with Taiwans membership request this week which made the islands officials quite un-happy. The group (which has 11 member-states) chose to work on Costa Ricas application instead
Back in 2021 Taiwan submitted its membership request just days after China did the same thing; neither got much attention since then. The group currently includes:
- Australia and New-Zealand
- Asian members like Japan‚ Malaysia‚ Vietnam
- North-American states - Mexico‚ Canada
- South-American countries - Chile‚ Peru
- Other members - Brunei‚ Singapore
The trade groups Vancouver meeting this month gave Costa Rica a thumbs-up to start membership talks — while Taiwan got left out. Taiwanese trade officials made their point clear: “political stuff shouldnt affect trade decisions“ they stated in their well-worded response
The situation shows how complex trade-politics can be: Taiwan which is a WTO member cant get many trade deals because of its tricky diplomatic position (thanks to pressure from mainland-China). The island-nation keeps saying it has full rights to make its own international agreements — but progress is slow-moving
Britain will become CPTPPs newest member in december which makes the timing extra-frustrating for Taiwan. Meanwhile Chinese officials who also want to join havent got their working-group either‚ so the whole process seems stuck in a geo-political limbo
