Taiwan will continue its efforts to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a free trade agreement involving Japan and 10 other countries in the Asia Pacific region, to cushion the impact of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) signed by 15 countries recently, according to its minister of economic affairs Wang Mei-hua.

Wang said her ministry is discussing with various industries to fully understand the impact of RCEP.

CPTPP comprises 11 signatories: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

Another strategy to counter the effects of the RCEP is to help domestic industries improve their international competitiveness and build Taiwan into a high-tech manufacturing hub in Asia and an advanced semiconductor manufacturing center, Wang was quoted as saying by a news agency.

The opposition Kuomintang recently called on the government to make an assessment of the RCEP’s impact on Taiwan and come up with response measures, which should be submitted in a report to the legislature.