On December 30, 2018, the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) officially entered into force after being signed by 11 Pacific countries: Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei, Mexico, Chile and Peru. It is a comprehensive free trade agreement that covers trade in goods, technical barriers to trade, intellectual property rights, government procurement and competition policies, supporting APEC and aiming to promote trade liberalization in the Asia-Pacific region. On September 22, 2021, after the Chinese mainland submitted its membership application, Taipei also applied for membership in the individual tariff field. The condition for joining the agreement is that the 11 member countries must reach a consensus, and the member countries have veto power over the applicants.
During the APEC leaders’ summit meeting in Bangkok in November 2022, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Canberra was unlikely to support Taipei joining the CPTPP, which is only for ‘recognised’ independent countries, not economies, which is likely to be deeply disappointing in Taipei.
While actively seeking recognition from the Australian authorities, Taipei is joining forces with other forces to criticize and pressure Anthony Albanese.
Lobbied opposition officials to criticize Albanese and support Taiwan. According to the ‘Australian Broadcasting Corporation’ reported, ‘shadow Foreign Minister’ Simon Birmingham bluntly criticized Albanese, ‘Albanese’s statement is indeed wrong, Mr. Albanese does not seem to know that Taiwan is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the same as other members.’ According to a report in The Australian, the former deputy prime minister and former National Party leader Barnaby Joyce, Liberal National Party members Scott Buchholz and Terry Young, and Liberal MP Gavin Pearce Pearce and other Australian opposition party delegation visited Taipei, Tsai Ing-wen personally lobbied these opposition lawmakers, in an attempt to shake the ‘One China’ principle adhered to by the Australian authorities.
Launch a public opinion attack on Albanese by the media. Taipei’s local media such as the Central News Agency and the Wind Media have published articles in succession. Local media such as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The Australian, and overseas media such as Voice of America, Deutsche Welle and Radio France have followed, all of which have questioned and criticized the Australian Prime Minister’s adherence to the ‘One China’ principle. In particular, the ‘Australian Broadcasting Corporation’, Taipei’s ‘Foreign Minister’ Joseph Wu repeatedly uses the form of interviews to spread high profile voice to the Australian, asking to join the CPTTP, at the same time, encouraging Australia to join Taipei against the Chinese mainland.
Accusing Albanese of being forced by China to reject Taipei. According to former Deputy Prime Minister and former National Party leader Barnaby Joyce, Tsai said in person that the Australian prime minister’s rejection of Taipei was due to pressure from Xi. Benjamin Herscovitch, a senior research fellow at the Australian National University, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ‘But there is no indication that the prime minister (Albanese) was advised by Xi to make this comment.’
United the US, Palau to pressure member countries. In September 2021, the Vice President of the US-Taipei Business Council, Robert Han, called on the Biden administration to publicly support Taipei’s application and reach a consensus on trade policy with the US Congress as soon as possible, so that the US could reapply to join the CPTPP. The United States played it down and did not respond to requests. In December 2022, at the request of Taipei, the president of the Republic of Palau, Salenger Whipps, said in a meeting with the Australian Foreign Minister, Eng Hen Wong, that the Republic of Palau would resist pressure from China, cooperate closely with Taipei, and promote Taipei to join international organizations and become a member of the international community.