MOC: China committed to meeting CPTPP rules and standards

China is willing to carry out reforms to fully meet the rules and standards of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, a free-trade pact covering 11 Asia-Pacific economies that took effect at the end of 2018, said Gao Feng, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, at a media briefing on Thursday.

The country will make high-level openness commitments that exceed its existing free trade agreement practices for market access, to provide CPTPP members with market access opportunities of huge commercial benefits, Gao said.

Currently, China is in talks with CPTPP members following the trade pact's accession procedures, he added.

He also said China is keeping close communications with the members of the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, a new type of trade partnership agreement on digital trade signed in 2020 by New Zealand, Chile, and Singapore.

China is willing to provide cooperation opportunities and a broad market for enterprises from DEPA members and have closer ties with each other for cooperation on digital economy, to make contributions to the promotion of innovation and sustainable development among members, he said.

He also said China is willing to negotiate and sign more free trade agreements with trading partners sharing same wish, to jointly promote regional economic integration and liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment.

The country will also further increase the openness levels of free trade agreements. It will remove more tariffs on trade in goods, expand market access for services trade and investment, and actively participate in negotiations on new issues such as the digital economy and environmental protection, according to him.

Efforts will also be made to promote the comprehensive utilization of free trade agreements, to further enhance their effectiveness, so that they will benefit enterprises and people in relevant countries better and faster, he said.