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Tuesday, 27 October 2015
China Seeks to Join Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
Written by
Christian Gomez
On October 26, 2015, the Chinese Communist Party newspaper
Study Times published a commentary article advocating Communist China's eventual participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
The TPP is a proposed "trade" pact negotiated among 12 Pacific Rim nations (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam) representing 40 percent of world GDP. Earlier this month, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman announced that the United States and the 11 other participating Pacific Rim nations had reached a final agreement on the TPP.
The biweekly
Study Times is an official publication of the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC (Communist Party of China), otherwise known as the Central Party School, whose main function is training rising Chinese Communist Party officials.
"The Central Party School publishes several newspapers and periodicals, such as
Study Times,
Theory Forum,
Chinese Cadres Tribune and
Journal of the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC, and runs a book publishing house and an audio-visual publishing house," states the
Central Party School's official website.
The commentary published in the
Study Times stated commonality between both the TPP and Communist China's own economic objectives. "The rules of the TPP and the direction of China's reforms and opening up are in line," the Communist Party of China said in its newspaper.
The commentary added, "China should keep paying close attention and at an appropriate time, in accordance with progress on domestic reform, join the TPP, while limiting the costs associated to the greatest degree." In other words, China should bide its time for an expedient opportunity to fully join the TPP.