The Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday that China's application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is totally unrelated to a recently formed Indo-Pacific security alliance.
In an arrangement dubbed AUKUS, the United States and Britain will provide Australia with the technology and capability to deploy nuclear-powered submarines. read more
China said on Thursday that it had filed an application to join the CPTPP trade pact, from which the U.S. Trump administration withdrew in 2017. (Reuters)