In September 2021 Taiwan applied to join the CPTPP, just one week after China did so. But Taiwan admission to the CPTPP will not be easy, among other things, not only because China would oppose it, but also because it must fulfil certain conditions due to the high standards that CPTPP membership entails. Also, it must resolve some issues that members of CPTPP have raised regarding Taiwan trade and investment regime, and it must get the approval of all existing members of the CPTPP. In this article the aspects surrounding Taiwan possible membership in the CPTPP will be analysed. Three questions will be answered, the first regarding the attitudes of CPTPP members about Taiwan membership; the second about the challenges facing Taiwan to enter the CPTPP; and the third, about what benefits Taiwan membership could bring to other CPTPP members.

1. Taiwanand the CPTPP
In September 2021 Taiwan applied to join the CPTPP, just one week after China did so.
But Taiwan admission to the CPTPP will not be easy, among other things, not only
because China would oppose it, but also because it must fulfil certain conditions due to
the high standards that CPTPP membership entails. Also, it must resolve some issues
that members of CPTPP have raised regarding Taiwan trade and investment regime, and
it must get the approval of all existing members of the CPTPP.
In this article the aspects surrounding Taiwan possible membership in the CPTPP will
be analysed. Three questions will be answered, the first regarding the attitudes of
CPTPP members about Taiwan membership; the second about the challenges facing
Taiwan to enter the CPTPP; and the third, about what benefits Taiwan membership
could bring to other CPTPP members.
1. What attitude will CPTPP members take about Taiwan joining it?
Just after Taiwan applied to join the CPTPP in September 22 last year, it was known
that Australia, Japan, Canada will support its admission1. But to get admission into
the CPTPP all existing members must agree to that.
Australia, Japan, and Canada have already showed its support for Taiwan
admission, what about the other 8 countries? So far, most of the members have said
that they will consider Taiwan admission as well as of China and of the United
Kingdom, based in the criteria that they fulfil requirements of them supporting free
trade and investment, that is, if they fulfil CPTPP standards.
But if Taiwan is accepted it would have to be at the same time than China is
accepted, because there is the possibility that if one of them become member first, it
could oppose later the other´s membership. So CPTPP members will have to also
consider this factor when analysing the admission of Taiwan and China2.
Regarding my country, Peru respects the one China principle, but it has accepted the
admission of Taiwan to APEC in 1991 and to the WTO in 2001, if it follows the
conditions required for that, and applies with the denominations or names that respect
the one China principle. Probably it will do the same regarding Taiwan admission to the
CPTPP, and if all other members of the CPTPP agree to that.
Regarding the name under which Taiwan apply, in the meeting of Economic Leaders of
APEC 2021, Taiwan envoy appealed to members to support Taiwan bid to join the
CPTPP. It is possible that Taiwan would like to join CPTPP under the same nomination
that when it joined APEC, or when it joined the WTO.
In fact, in the formal application to join CPTPP that Taiwan did in September 2021
to New Zealand, that acts as a depositary for the trade pact, it used the name "the
1 See Taiwan News website: “Australia,Japan,and Canada workingon getting Taiwan into CPTPP”
September 24, 2021,https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4295875
2 See Nikkei Asia:“China´s and Taiwan´s duellingbids spell bigopportunity for CPTPP” October 17, 2021
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/China-s-and-Taiwan-s-dueling-bids-spell-big-opportunity-for-CPTPP

2. Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu"3. This name
was the same that Taiwan used when it applied to join the WTO in 2001.
It should be mentioned that besides China and Taiwan applying for CPTPP
membership, Ecuador also applied formally at the end of last year to become a
member of the group4. So, by now four economies are waiting to enter the CPTPP:
United Kingdom, China, Taiwan, and Ecuador5. United Kingdom applied for
membership in February 20216 and it seems its admission will be the first one
among the four applications.
2. What challenges will face Taiwan in joining the CPTPP, besides China
element?
Taiwan has very few free trade agreements in the world. With CPTPP members it has
only with Singapore and New Zealand. So, it will have to negotiate with the rest of the
members of the CPTPP the conditions for its admission and will have to fulfil the
conditions required. One way of knowing which issues could arise from the negotiations
is to see what concerns were raised by WTO members when Taiwan had its Fourth
Trade Policy Review in September 2018, its last one. The following one will be in
2023.
In the Fourth WTO Trade Policy Review Meeting of Taiwan, the main concerns of the
members included “(1) Simplification of the foreign investment review process; (2)
Food safety should adopt international standards, based on scientific evidence and
simplified procedures for Pesticide Residue Limits; (3) Agricultural import tariffs are
significantly higher than those of industrial products; (4) Perform aggregate measure of
support notification obligations in agriculture; (5) Fishery subsidies; (6) expansion of
government procurement liberalization; and (7) Expansion of preferential treatment for
products from underdeveloped countries.7
For example, members of the CPTPP like Australia complained that Taiwan have not
reduced its tariffs in the agricultural sector since the last review in 2014; Canada
discussed Taiwan´s food standards on imports, certificates of origin and industrial
policy, and Japan raised concerns about Taiwan food imports restrictions related to
3 See Bilterals.orgweb site: “CPTPP members ´welcome´ Taiwan bid to join:New Zealand official”10
November 2021 https://www.bilaterals.org/?cptpp-members-welcome-taiwan-s-bid&lang=en
4 See Asia Nikkei: “Ecuador applies for CPTPP membership to diversify trade” December 29, 2021
https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Trade/Ecuador-applies-for-CPTPP-membership-to-diversify-trade2
5 See Peterson Institute for International Economics: “Which countries arein the CPTPP and RCEP trade
agreements and which want it?” January 3, 2022 https://www.piie.com/research/piie-charts/which-
countries-are-cptpp-and-rcep-trade-agreements-and-which-want
6 See Asia Nikkei: U.K. ´”on track” to join CPTPP by 2022,trade official says,November 16, 20211
https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Interview/U.K.-on-track-to-join-CPTPP-by-2022-trade-official-
says#:~:text=The%20U.K.%20formally%20applied%20to,in%20the%20region%20remains%20unclear.
7 See Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs,Bureau of Foreign Trade website: “The Fourth WTO Trade
Policy Review Meeting of Taiwan”,July 10, 2021
https://www.trade.gov.tw/english/Pages/Detail.aspx?nodeID=660&pid=699196&dl_DateRange=all&txt
_SD=&txt_ED=&txt_Keyword=&Pageid=0

3. safety issues. Also, Peru noted the high levels of public interventions in various sectors
of the economy8.
3. What benefits Taiwan can bring to the bloc and its member countries?
As it is seen in Table 1 below, for some members of CPTPP Taiwan is an important
trade partner. Taiwan mainly supplies computer chips and some parts and
components in the electronic industry.
For Singapore, Taiwan is its third largest supplier of imports of goods with 11% of
the total; for Vietnam, Taiwan is the fourth largest source of imports, with 6.4% of
the total in the year 2020. For Japan is the fourth largest supplier with 4.2% of the
total, and for Malaysia is the fifth largest with 7.2% of the total in the same year
2020. For the rest of the countries in the CPTPP, Taiwan importance as a supplier of
goods is minimal, with less than 2% of the total.
As an export destination, only for Japan and Singapore Taiwan is important. For
Japan is the 4th largest, with 6.9% of the total, and for Singapore is the sixth largest
with 4.9% of the total, in the year 2020. For Malaysia is the eighth largest, with
3.4% of the total. For the rest of CPTPP members Taiwan share as a destination
market is around 2% or less.
Specially for countries in the American continent, Taiwan importance as a trading
partner is minimal.
But Taiwan importance as a supplier of computer chips could increase a little in the
following years, as chips are increasingly being used in all types of goods, from
electronic ones to fighter jets, and Taiwanese companies are among the largest
suppliers of these goods in the world9.
It should be noted that for practically all CPTPP members, China is the main trade
partner, except for Brunei (where it is the third largest), and for Canada and Mexico
(where it is the second largest).
For Vietnam, Taiwan is also one of the main investors, being among the top 510. For
the rest of countries in the CPTPP, Taiwan is not among the main investors,
although it should be pointed that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company,
the biggest chipmaker producer in the world, will invest around 7 billion dollars in
Japan, to build a factory there11.
8 See China Trade Monitor website: “Taiwan applies to join the CPTPP: Government statements,
potential trade issues,and geopolitical context” September 28, 2021.See the item: “Potential trade
issues between CPTPP parties and Taiwan” https://www.chinatrademonitor.com/taiwan-applies-to-
join-the-cptpp/
9 See Tech Crunch website: “Taiwan´s bargainingchip?”,December 2, 2021,
https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/02/taiwans-bargaining-chips/
10 See Vietnam Briefing: “FDI in Vietnam: A year in review and outlook for 2021”February 17, 2021
https://www.vietnam-briefing.com/news/fdi-in-vietnam-year-in-review-and-outlook-for-2021.html/
11 See Reuters: “TSMC, Sony to build $ 7 billion for new Japanesechip plant”, November 10, 2021
https://www.reuters.com/technology/sony-invest-500-mln-tsmcs-new-chip-unit-japan-2021-11-09/

4. Taiwan is a key player in the global value chains, especially in the global high-tech
supply chains, and at least for countries like Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, and
Malaysia, it is an important trade partner, and by joining the CPTPP, members
countries could benefit having more trade with Taiwan with few or zero restrictions
and no tariffs. Also, Taiwan government says that, when Taiwan join the CPTPP, it
would help promote free trade in the Asia Pacific region12.
Table 1: Main trade partners of CPTPP member countries, by order of
importance, year 2020
CPTPP
Member
Exports of
goods
Taiwan´s
share and
place in
importance
Imports of goods Taiwan´s
share and
place in
importance
Australia China, Japan,
United States,
Korea, United
Kingdom
2.2% (8th
place)
China, United
States, Japan,
Thailand,
Germany
1.5% (15th
place)
Brunei Japan, Singapore,
China, Malaysia,
India
1.3% (11th
place)
Malaysia,
Singapore, China,
United Kingdom,
Australia
1.6% (16th
place)
Canada United States,
China, United
Kingdom, Japan,
Germany
0.3% (19th
place)
United States,
China, Mexico,
Germany, Japan
1% (13th
place)
Chile China, United
States, Japan,
Korea, Brazil
1.7 % (8th
place)
China, United
States, Brazil,
Argentina,
Germany
0.4% (29th
place)
Japan China, United
States, Korea,
Taiwan, Hong
Kong
6.9% (4th
place)
China, United
States, Australia,
Taiwan, Korea
4.2% (4th
place)
Malaysia China,
Singapore,
United States,
Hong Kong,
Japan
3.4% (8th
place)
China, Singapore,
United States,
Japan, Taiwan
7.2% (5th
place)
Mexico United States,
Canada, China,
Germany,
Taiwan
1% (5th
place)
United States,
China, Korea,
Japan, Germany
2.3% (7th
place)
New Zealand China, Australia,
United States,
Japan, Korea
2.3% (7th
place)
China, Australia,
United States,
Japan, Korea
1.5% (16th
place)
Peru China, United
States, Canada,
Korea, Japan
0.5% (25th
place)
China, United
States, Brazil,
Argentina,
Mexico
0.8% (20th
place)
Singapore China, Hong
Kong, United
States, Malaysia,
Indonesia
4.9% (6th
place)
China, Malaysia,
Taiwan, United
States, Japan
11% (3rd
place)
12 See China Trade Monitor website: “Taiwan applies to join the CPTPP: Government statements,
potential trade issues,and geopolitical context” September 28, 2021
https://www.chinatrademonitor.com/taiwan-applies-to-join-the-cptpp/

5. Vietnam United States,
China, Japan,
Korea, Hong
Kong
1.5% (12th
place)
China, Korea,
Japan, Taiwan,
United States
6.4% (4th
place)
Source: International Trade Centre, Trade Map
January 10, 2022