China has applied to join a key Asia-Pacific agreement on trade as it seeks to strengthen its position in the region.
The move comes a day after the closing of a security agreement between the United States, the UK and Australia.
The final agreement is the Comprehensive Agreement and Progress of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), made by the US against China’s growing influence.
However, former President Donald Trump pulled America out of it in 2017.
Chinese Trade Minister Wang Wentao said the world’s second-largest economy had applied for a free trade agreement in a letter to New Zealand’s trade minister Damien O’Connor.
New Zealand serves as the administrative center of the agreement.
Mr Wang and Mr O’Connor then held a telephone conference to discuss the next steps following China’s request, China’s Ministry of Trade and Commerce revealed.
The original Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was proposed by then-President Barack Obama as an economic organization to challenge China’s growing position in Asia Pacific.
After Mr. Trump pulled the US out of the deal, Japan led negotiations to build the CPTPP.
CPTPP was signed in 2018 by 11 countries, including Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan and New Zealand.
In June, the UK officially launched negotiations to join the CPTPP, while Thailand also expressed interest in joining the agreement.
Joining the CPTPP will be of great benefit to China, especially after it signed a separate free trade agreement with 14 countries – called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – in November.
RCEP is the world’s largest trading economic bloc, with South Korea, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand among its members.
China’s announcement to formally apply to join the CPTPP comes the next day when the UK, US and Australia unveiled a historic security agreement, in what is being considered an effort to combat Beijing’s influence in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Aukus agreement will allow Australia to build nuclear-powered under water submarines for the first time, using technology provided by the US and the UK.
The agreement, which will also integrate Artificial Intelligence and other technologies, has been biggest Australian defense deal in decades, analysts say.
