Photo: IC

China already had informal contacts with certain members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership while conducting active research on matters related to joining the trade agreement at home, a senior government official said.

The government also plans to engage with the rest of the CPTPP's members to talk at the technical level on the issues involved, so that it can have a more accurate understanding regarding the content of relevant documents, said Wang Shouwen, vice-minister of Commerce.

The CPTPP, which took effect on Dec 30, 2018, is a trade agreement between 11 countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Their aggregate gross domestic product accounts for 13 percent of the global economy.