Britain on Sunday officially joined an Asia-Pacific trade group that includes Japan and 10 other nations during a meeting in New Zealand.
It also includes New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The deal comes as Britain pursues greater engagement with the Indo-Pacific. Critics say the deal is insignificant compared to Britain’s trade with its neighbours in the 27-nation EU. Members of the trade group also said on Sunday they were gathering information on China, Taiwan and other countries interested in joining the agreement to see whether they were able to meet the pact’s “high standards”.
China’s application to join the pact is now next in line if they are dealt with in the order they were received, but the country faces a number of hurdles to be included.