IV.V. COMPATIBILITY BETWEEN THE UK AND JAPAN IN THE DEVELOPMENT SPACE

‘Beyond the Galapagos Syndrome ’ : Mapping the Future of UK-Japan Economic Cooperation

Luke Cavanaugh (ed.), Olivia Bisbee, Owain Cooke, Kezzie Florin-Seon, 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 so 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

81 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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