US officials say Russia has asked China for military help in Ukraine

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35. This is what China also has in mind

Would China’s move to join this transpacific trade pact push the U.S. to rejoin? It’s complicated.

Membership would probably place China firmly at the center of regional and global supply chains.


By Kristen Hopewell
September 27, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EDT


China announced this month that it has officially applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), one of the world’s largest free trade areas. A quick recap: Yes, this is the trade pact that began as part of the U.S. effort to contain China’s growing influence in the Pacific Rim. Why did China make this move, and what happens now? The simple answer is that the 11 CPTPP members — Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam — will decide whether to allow China to join the pact.

Here’s what makes Beijing’s membership bid complicated: China’s trade practices and trade rifts — and China’s growing rivalry with the United States.

Why is China keen to join?

Joining the CPTPP would be a major symbolic and strategic victory for China. The agreement originated as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a mega-regional free trade deal championed by the Obama administration as a cornerstone of U.S. strategy for engagement in Asia. The trade pact was intended to bolster U.S. alliances and counter China’s growing power in the region. With its members encompassing 40 percent of global GDP, the TPP could provide a channel for the United States to write the rules of global trade, many analysts predicted.

The Trump administration, however, announced in 2017 that the United States would withdraw from the TPP. The remaining members forged ahead with the agreement, which became known as the CPTPP. China now seeks to replace the United States as the economic hub of the agreement. The Global Times, a state-run newspaper and mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party, described this as a landmark move that aims to “cement the country’s leadership in global trade” and leave the United States “increasingly isolated.”

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/27/would-chinas-move-join-this-transpacific-trade-pact-push-us-rejoin-its-complicated/