China points finger at Aukus as it rallies support to join CPTPP
- Foreign Minister Wang Yi tells Mexican counterpart Marcelo Ebrard that China wants to play positive role in promoting trade liberalisation
- Wang separately tells Malaysia and Brunei that the Aukus alliance endangers the stability of Southeast Asia
“China is ready to work with all parties to make the CPTPP more representative and play a positive role in promoting trade and investment liberalisation,” the Chinese foreign ministry quoted Wang as saying.
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Nato says China presents ‘systemic challenges’
The Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday that it had looked into the reforms and regulations that could be needed for membership and would exceed those market requirements to win over members.
He accused the Aukus grouping of aiming to “provoke rivalry among regional camps and engage in a geopolitical zero-sum game”, and listed the hazards that he said the Aukus nuclear submarine deal brought to the region.
Beijing has ramped up its criticism of the alliance, with the foreign ministry saying the US and its allies would have no grounds to oppose North Korea, Iran and other countries acquiring weapons-grade highly enriched uranium, if they allowed Australia to do so.
If the United States openly transfer highly sensitive nuclear materials and nuclear technology to Australia, “should it immediately stop unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction against North Korea and Iran on the grounds of developing nuclear technology?”, ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Thursday.
Although Beijing said its CPTPP application was not related to Aukus, it has sought to contrast its push for regional integration with the US, British and Australian “promotion of war and destruction”.
“Who is fuelling conflict and confrontation, endangering peace and stability, and who is promoting regional integration and advancing peace and stability?” Wang was quoted as saying.
He said China was the first of the five nuclear-weapon states to state its willingness to join and sign a protocol under the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty.
China looks to outflank US with bid to join CPTPP
The nuclear weapons moratorium treaty is an agreement between 10 Southeast Asian states under the auspices of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). China, France, Russia, Britain and the US – the five states officially recognised as possessing nuclear weapons – are free to sign the treaty’s protocol but bone has yet done so.
“Not only did the United States and Britain not participate, but they instead used various excuses to transfer military nuclear technology to the region and provide high-enriched uranium nuclear materials, which runs counter to the efforts of Asean countries to construct a nuclear-free zone,” Wang said.
He repeated Beijing’s suggestion that Aukus would further fuel an arms race, telling his counterparts from Malaysia and Brunei that other nations could “even cross the nuclear threshold”, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
Asean members Indonesia and Malaysia have expressed concerns about Australia’s plan to acquire a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines under the Aukus deal. The Philippines, a close ally of the US, also expressed concern.
Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said last Wednesday that he planned to visit China soon to discuss the Aukus pact.
Additional reporting by Jun Mai and Orange Wang
