How to make China and Taiwan earn their admission to CPTPP

Solution to this puzzle lies in the details

Kurt Tong

November 5, 2021 05:00 JST

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday that she will seek support for its bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership when she attends a meeting of economic leaders of the Asia-Pacific group APEC next week. © Reuters

Ambassador Kurt Tong is a former U.S. diplomat. He is a partner at the Asia Group.

After China's Sept. 16 application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Washington faces the supreme irony of watching passively as its primary strategic rival becomes a beneficiary of a regional market-opening arrangement that the United States crafted for its own benefit.