‘Beyond the Galapagos Syndrome’: Mapping the Future of UK-Japan Economic Cooperation Luke Cavanaugh (ed.), Olivia Bisbee, Owain Cooke, Kezzie Florin-Sefton, Elizabeth Steel
including a recent agreement to hold joint naval drills in the Pacific.81 Japan has expressed interest in joining the Five Eyes network before, and it is possible that this will influence it to consider the UK’s application more favourably as well. 82 The CPTPP provides an opportunity for both the UK and Japan to pursue concrete economic aims alongside influencing their global reputations: Japan would benefit from being regarded as a leader in expanding the benefits of the CPTPP for existing members, while the UK could reaffirm its global aspirations and increase its soft power influence in a critical region. There are challenges inherent in this, first and foremost that the UK’s application to enter the CPTPP is still yet to be considered or approved by member countries, with the first negotiation meeting occurring on the 28th September 2021.83 Secondly, its application to join has now been accompanied by the formal applications of China and Taiwan, applications which will certainly capture the attention and time of current member states due to the political and technical difficulties of their potential accessions.84 Following these applications, South Korea and Ecuador have also requested accession, emphasising the increased global
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Elly Darkin, ‘The Politics of UK Accession to Pacific Free Trade Club’ ( RUSI, 25 February 2021) https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/politics-uk-accession-pacific-free -trade-club accessed 17 October 2021; Okabe Noburu, ‘Japan and 'Global Britain': Expanding the Trans-Pacific Partnership’ (Nippon, June 22 2021) https://www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/d00697/ accessed 17 October 2021 82 Panda, 'Japan-UK: 'Progressive' Ties and a Case for Britain in the CPTPP', pp.3-4 83 Department for International Trade, ‘UK kickstarts talks to join £9 trillion global trade bloc’ (28 September 2021) https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-kickstarts-talks-to-join-9-trillion-global-trade-bloc accessed 17 October 2021 84 Shin Kawashima, ‘Japan’s Position on the CPTPP Applications of China and Taiwan’ ( The Diplomat, October 3 2021) https://thediplomat.com/2021/10/japans-position-on-the-cptpp-applications-of-china-and-taiwa n/ accessed 17 October 2021
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