China approaches Chile seeking support for its application to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership bloc

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – It was learned that the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, told his Chilean counterpart, Andrés Allamand, by telephone today that the Asian country seeks to “maintain communication” with the Latin American government on account of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which Beijing requested to join in September.

Wang stated that “our two countries should strengthen strategic coordination in multilateral affairs. China has formally applied to join the CPTPP and seeks to communicate more with Chile on this issue,” according to a statement released today by the Chinese Foreign Ministry and reported by Efe news agency.

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In the talk, Wang emphasized the need for both countries to “support each other” and deepen cooperation in mining, clean energy, and technology.

The trade agreement replaced the TPP, a pact sealed between those 11 countries and the United States until then-U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from it in 2017.

However, Beijing now needs the consensus of its members to start accession negotiations.

Taiwan also applied to join the agreement a week after Beijing did the same, something China “flatly” rejects despite countries such as Japan seeing no obstacles to the island joining the treaty, designed to reduce tariffs on agricultural and industrial products and promote investment and digital trade in the Pacific region.

China and Chile, for their part, have a Free Trade Agreement that came into force in 2006, which establishes an immediate tariff reduction for 92% of Chilean exports to the Asian country.

Not surprisingly, exports from Latin American to the Asian country increased by 40% in the first half of 2021 compared to the first half of 2020, according to the Chilean Embassy in China.