Taiwan formally applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Treaty of Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP, or TIPAT for its acronym in Spanish), following in the footsteps of the United Kingdom less than a week after China did.

After the United Kingdom did the same (February 1, 2021) and China (September 16), the government of Taiwan submitted its request to New Zealand, which serves as the depositary of the Treaty.

The TIPAT includes 30 chapters, with traditional disciplines such as: trade in goods, rules of origin, services, investment, among others, as well as next-generation topics such as: disciplines for state-owned companies, trade and labor, trade and the environment, intellectual property and electronic commerce.

On December 30, 2018, the TIPAT entered into force among the first six countries to ratify the agreement: Canada, Australia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore. On January 14, 2019, the validity for Vietnam began. Then on September 19, 2021, it started for Peru. It does not yet operate for Brunei Darussalam, Chile and Malaysia.

CPTPP 

The opening of the Chinese Taipei economy to international trade and its integration into the world economy and global value chains have continued to be reflected in a high ratio (up to more than 100%) of trade in goods and services (exports plus imports)/GDP.

Likewise, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO), trends in international trade and direct investment inflows reflect the importance that the Asia-Pacific region continues to have as the main market and supplier of Chinese Taipei; China, Japan, the United States and the European Union remain its main individual trading partners.

As regards direct investment inflows, its main interlocutors are: the European Union; Hong Kong, China, Japan.

At the same time, Taiwan continues to promote investment -through incentives and facilitation measures- to make it a new engine of economic growth.

His application to join the TIPAT was made by the Vice Minister of Economic Affairs of Taiwan, Chen Chern-chyi.

Taiwan exported goods worth 346.634 million dollars in 2020, which represented 2% of world external sales, compared with 1.8% in 2019.

In the opposite direction, its imports were 287,171 million dollars, equivalent to 1.6% of total foreign purchases in the world, compared to 1.5% in 2019.