TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s plan to conclude an Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP) with the United Kingdom will help its bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), reports said Friday (July 28).

The two countries agreed to prepare for the ETP by discussing investments, energy, and digital trade. As the U.K. became the CPTPP’s 12th member this year, closer economic cooperation is also expected to help Taiwan receive the go-ahead to join the trade group.

Deepening trade relations with the U.K. would win its support for the CPTPP bid, according to Chiu Ta-sheng (邱達生), a researcher at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER). He added that cooperation under an ETP framework would also show other nations that Taiwan was sufficiently prepared to join a group like the CPTPP, Radio Taiwan International (RTI) reported.

The aim of the ETP was only to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU), because trying for a full-scale trade agreement would involve matters of sovereignty, which might attract interference from China, Chiu said. 

Once the MOU was signed, it would lead to closer trade ties between Taiwan and the U.K., and even without being legally binding, it could form the first step toward a more thorough trade agreement, Chiu said.