[Look at China, April 1, 2023]The UK joined the Trans-Pacific Trade Agreement and became the first country outside the Indo-Pacific region. Analysis indicates that the move may not be of great significance to the UK’s economic development in the short term, but it can be said to be a geopolitical one. important development.
The United Kingdom was accepted to join the “Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)” (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, hereinafter referred to as CPTPP). It is the 12th member of the agreement and the first time that CPTPP has countries outside Europe and the Indo-Pacific join in.
The British Minister of Commerce and Trade Kemi Badenoch (Kemi Badenoch, also translated as Bad Noch) announced in the early hours of Friday UK time to join the CPTPP. The agreement originally had 11 members, including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, with a total population of about 500 million, and the gross domestic product (GDP) of these countries ) is about 15% of the world.
The British Ministry of Commerce and Trade stated that the GDP of the original 11 CPTPP countries will reach 11 trillion pounds in 2021, equivalent to approximately 13.6 trillion US dollars. In the year to the third quarter of last year, the trade volume between the UK and CPTPP countries was 111.1 billion pounds, accounting for 6.8% of the UK’s trade volume. During the same period, the UK exported £60.5 billion to CPTPP countries.
Bai Danna pointed out that joining the CPTPP shows that the British government has made good use of her ability to freely formulate trade policies after leaving the EU to find new markets in the world to develop the economy. She added that joining the CPTPP would give British businesses easier access to the Indo-Pacific region, a region seen as leading future growth.
However, according to the estimates of the British government, joining the CPTPP will only increase the British economy by 0.08%, while leaving the EU will reduce the growth of the British economy by 4%. On the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) radio program, Bai Danna pointed out that the outside world should not analyze the advantages and disadvantages of joining the CPTPP from a short-term perspective, but should treat it as if investing in a start-up company, focusing on the potential for growth.
Some experts also believe that the UK’s accession to CPTPP requires further adjustment of trade rules to member countries, which will make the UK further away from the EU. Joining the CPTPP would make it harder for Britain to rejoin the EU’s customs union, Sam Lowe, a partner at British business management consultant Flint Global, told The Guardian. He also said that the UK does not seem to need to significantly adjust the rules inherited from the EU, showing that the EU and CPTPP rules are compatible.
In addition, Taiwan and China will formally apply to join the CPTPP in September 2021. It is of certain strategic importance for the UK to join this trade agreement.
Minako Morita-Jaeger, a researcher at the UK Trade Policy Observatory (UK Trade Policy Observatory), said that the UK’s accession to the CPTPP is a “major geopolitical achievement” with “a small amount of economic achievement”.
She said that Britain’s latest “Integrated Review” (Integrated Review) defense diplomacy document reiterated the UK’s shift to the Indo-Pacific region, and CPTPP provides a core policy framework that allows the UK to have strategic links with like-minded countries to ensure The Indo-Pacific region is free and open.
Asked whether China would be concerned that the UK’s accession to the CPTPP would benefit Taiwan’s accession to the agreement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said that he firmly opposes official exchanges between any country and Taiwan, and firmly opposes Taiwan’s participation in any official agreement or organization.
Responsible Editor: Xin He Source: Voice of America
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