‘Beyond the Galapagos Syndrome’: Mapping the Future of UK-Japan Economic Cooperation Luke Cavanaugh (ed.), Olivia Bisbee, Owain Cooke, Kezzie Florin-Sefton, Elizabeth Steel
interest in admission.85As the addition of a new member requires unanimous consent from all CPTPP members, there is not a certain outcome ahead for the UK or for the other applicants, although currently the UK appears to face less opposition from members than China’s application has provoked.86
The ‘rules-based international order’ has served both Japan and the UK well in the past. However, in the face of challenges to this model in the form of protectionism, slow negotiations at the WTO, and concerns over China’s trade practises and economic strength, states such as Japan and the UK may need to move beyond reliance on their traditional ally the US. They have both vocally defended free trade and the rules-based order, but more significantly, are pursuing this through the CPTPP. As a relatively new trading pact, the CPTPP addresses critical topics like digital trade in a manner that many major trading pacts do not, highlighting that modernised rules for trade may need to emerge from plurilateral groupings of like-minded states separate from the US and China. While the UK’s application for entry has not yet been approved, its eagerness to engage in the CPTPP highlights its determination to project ‘Global Britain’ into the Asia-Pacific, an endeavour that will require partners such as Japan.
85
Christian Davies and Song Jung-a, ‘South Korea applies to join CPTPP in wake of China’s bid’ (Financial Times, 13 December 2021) https://www.ft.com/content/3bb1ee0e-ae04-4836-88bb-fa5c859992ed accessed 8 January 2022; Hidetake Miyamoto, ‘Ecuador applies for CPTPP membership to diversify trade’ ( Nikkei Asia, 29 December 2021) https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Trade/Ecuador-applies-for-CPTPP-membership-to-diversify-tr ade2 accessed 8 January 2022. 86 Kawashima, ‘Japan’s Position on the CPTPP Applications of China and Taiwan’
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