Taiwan seeks Malaysia's support to join CPTPP
PETALING JAYA, Malaysia is urged to support Taiwan's bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), says Anne Hung, the Representative of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia.
Hung said Taiwan's inclusion into CPTPP will help to diversify trade chain and expand the connection with international market. This would also improve economic efficiency and maintain supply chain, she said.
Hung also said Taiwan's inclusion will help to establish a complete trade chain among CPTPP members.
She said this in a roundtable forum organised by Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) on “Malaysia, Taiwan and CPTPP: Economic growth and opportunities in recovery”.
In her speech, Hung said Taiwan had close trade links with CPTPP members as 30% of its import were from those countries and it exported 20% of goods to them.
Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam are Taiwan's top-ranking trading partners.
On investment, she said 30% of Taiwan's foreign direct investment came from CPTPP members while 54% of Taiwan’s foreign direct investment were also in countries which were CPTPP members.
Taiwan and Malaysia were closely-linked in trade with common interest in business and investment, she said.
For many years in the past, Taiwan was Malaysia's main trading partner. The bilateral trade between both countries was close to US$20 billion in 2019.
Taiwan was Malaysia's sixth trading partner while Malaysia was Taiwan's seventh trading partner.
“Taiwan is the fifth largest foreign investment for Malaysia with an accumulated investment capital of US$13.65 billion, mainly in manufacturing, electronics, biotechnology and high-technology sectors,” she said.
Taiwan authorities held consultations and communication with the public to amend legislation to comply with the standard imposed by CPTPP.
IDEAS CEO Tricia Yeoh hosted the forum where a report entitled “Malaysia, Taiwan and CPTPP: Economic Impact Assessment” was also released.
The report said a speedy CPTPP ratification would stimulate economic recovery in Malaysia without increasing the financial burden while Taiwan’s inclusion in CPTPP would assist Malaysia to have a comprehensive supply chain and speed up digitalisation and industry 4.0, in favour of Malaysia's economy.