antiterror13
Brigadier
Countries like NZ and Australia already have free trade agreements with China, and are members of the RCEP led by China. TTP would have met the ultimate desire of both counties which was access to the North American market. So I guess its back to bilateral trade talks….. sigh
Actually China was invited to join the TTP in the beginning but declined. An attempt to join later was rejected on a variety of reasons. Eg It was felt in some quarters that in the interim China under Xi had moved China away from a domestic economy that was compatible with a rules based open trading system which was at the centre of the TTP
Therefore to come up with a direct alternative similar to what the TTP offers means, China would have to be willing to incorporate a higher standard than what the RCEP has.
also remember the more significant free trade agreement between China and ASEAN (10 countries) since 1 Jan 2010.
Note China - NZ FTA was signed in 2008 and with Australia 20 Dec 2015. With South Korea also 20 Dec 2015
My point is ... that China already signed many and many (and many more to come) FTA with other countries