Cargo ships carrying containers pile up at the Ningbo Zhoushan Port in Ningbo, East China’s Zhejiang Province on Tuesday. The boom in container throughput for foreign trade comes as the country’s yuan-denominated exports jumped 30.1 percent year-on-year in the first five months, customs data showed Monday. Photo: cnsphoto
After China officially applied to join the 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), members of the major Asia-Pacific trade pact showed different attitudes, with Japan showing a somewhat ambiguous, cautious stance, while countries like Singapore expressing support.
The hardest obstacles might still come from Australia and Canada, which are close US allies and seem to be stuck in an anti-China political wave, Chinese experts said. However, while there could be a long, bumpy road ahead before formal accession, China will inevitably become a member, given the irresistible Chinese market and China’s own intensifying reform and opening-up efforts, the experts noted.
China’s CPTPP application faces hurdles, but vast market ‘irresistible’ – Global Times
