Xi Jinping has found a new tool to help him gain leverage at the expense of the U.S. and Taiwan, the 11-member trade bloc known as the CPTPP. (Nikkei montage/Getty Images/Wataru Ito)

Analysis: China's TPP bid follows carefully scripted 300-day plan

Beijing's move aims to thwart possible U.S. return to pact, pressure Taiwan

KATSUJI NAKAZAWA, Nikkei senior staff writer

September 23, 2021 04:00 JST

Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff writer and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He was the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize.

TOKYO -- China's official application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, formerly known as the TPP, last week caught many by surprise and was seen as an abrupt move by President Xi Jinping's administration.