Taiwan and World Affairs – serie

This book addresses the following fundamental questions: With the EU seeing Taiwan as a partner on its own merit (rather than exclusively through the China factor lens), how can the two sides consolidate this new normal, what next? How can they expand cooperation in a way that both increases the EU’s role in shaping Taiwan’s future and empowers Taiwan to exercise agency? Taiwan’s geo-strategic relevance is likely to grow in the Indo-Pacific, a region of great significance to the EU’s own interests. Protecting these will require a more engaged Europe. In this trenchant and engaging volume, Dr. Ferenczy explores what European policy towards the Asian hotspot should be, of interest to policymakers, scholars and journalists.

Originally called the Trans-Pacific Partnership until the USA withdrew in 2017, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is an ambitious and wide-ranging free trade agreement between eleven Pacific countries. Far from faltering after US withdrawal, several more countries have since applied to join, including China, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. Some observers see in this a contest between China and the USA for wider influence through an attempt to control or re-write the rules of international trade; at a minimum accession by any of the three would have a major impact on the CPTPP as originally envisaged.This edited volume considers the three applications, the motivations for the three to join, and the likely responses of existing members. The implications for cross-Strait tension between China and Taiwan are fully considered, as is the ability or willingness of the USA to influence the outcome of the applications.