China has formally applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the trade agreement that 11 countries signed up to following the failure of its predecessor, the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) in 2017.

TPP failed to get off the ground because the US withdrew. The US is not a signatory to CPTPP, but its neighbours Mexico and Canada are, as are Japan, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.

China was excluded from TPP and Japan’s finance minister, Kenji Nakanishi, expressed doubts about its joining CPTPP. He said China was “far removed from the free, fair and highly transparent world” that the trade agreement sought to establish among signatories.

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