TRADE DEALS/Deputy legislative speaker urges U.K. to support Taiwan's CPTPP bid

Taipei, Feb. 17 (CNA) Deputy Legislative Speaker Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) on Monday received a visiting U.K. parliamentary delegation, urging the United Kingdom to support Taiwan's bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Speaking with the delegation led by co-chair of the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group, Labor Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Champion, Chiang congratulated the U.K. for securing membership of the CPTPP and called on London to use its influence to take concrete action to help Taiwan join the trade bloc.

The CPTPP, which evolved from the Trans-Pacific Partnership the United States left in January 2017, is one of the world's biggest trade blocs. It represents a market of 500 million people and accounts for 13.5 percent of global trade.

Its 12 signatories are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the U.K., which became an official member in December 2024.

Taiwan officially applied to join the CPTPP on Sept. 22, 2021, less than a week after China also applied for membership.

Chiang said Taiwan has met the CPTPP's high standards as a member and assistance from the U.K. in supporting its bid to enter the trade bloc is expected to allow both sides to join forces and facilitate regional prosperity.

In addition, Chiang said both Taipei and London will be able to continue to expand cooperation in a wide range of areas such as economics and trade, culture, education, technology and security in a bid to boost bilateral ties, strengthen democratic values and global partnership.

In response, Champion said it is her fifth visit to Taiwan and her enthusiasm toward Taiwan comes from mutual insistence on democracy, adding that the latest visit by the seven-member cross-party parliamentary delegation demonstrates the support of the U.K. parliament.

Echoing Chiang, Champion said she agreed such a visit through so-called parliamentary diplomacy is very important for ties between the U.K. and Taiwan.

The visit allow MPs to have a better understanding of Taiwan, she added.

The U.K. delegation was received by Chiang, who was accompanied by KMT lawmaker Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), lawmaker Kuo Yu-ching (郭昱晴) from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, and lawmaker Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) from the opposition Taiwan People's Party.

The U.K. MPs and their Taiwanese counterparts also discussed issues such as cross-strait ties, the situation in the South China Sea and the ratio of Taiwan's defense spending to its GDP.