The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is an international trade arrangement of 11 states in Pacific Asia, namely some of the world's leading economies like Canada, Australia, Japan, and Mexico. The CPTPP, in turn, has been in use since 2018 after the end of the long-lasting talks.

China has offered its membership prospects into the pact. For the second-largest economy after China, it is clear that the cooperation of China would even expand the coverage of the CPTPP and ultimately improve the trade between the members. However, China has not submitted any application to be a part of the agreement.

In November 2022, Xi, the Chinese President, said that more states were than willing to joining the CPTPP, including China. He said this during the APEC summit. His statement was followed by an announcement made by the Chinese trade Minister in September 2022, that China had a plan to join the CPTPP. The statements of this kind mean that China is actually attentive to the subject and ready to act.

The CPTPP member countries should be the ones who would have to agree for any new member to access the pact through unanimous consent. China's membership issue will involve a consideration of both the economic and politic nuances of the flourishing CPTPP members. China is the main trading partner of Australia and therefore some nations might be reluctant about this deal because of recent international tensions. In addition, another issue of uncertainty is whether China would be eager to comply with the CPTPP’s demanding requirements on items such as intellectual property, labor, and environmental issues.

In conclusion, although China has publicly endorsed the trans-Pacific trade agreement it has not put in any formal application as yet. It has been a source of controversy and has caused debate between the CPTPP member states that remain. If accept the proposal, it would be long and hard months or years of negotiations with the current member countries and leading maybe to the agreement to let China in the club. In the future, China will concentrate on the CTPA, the trade agreement in that important Asia-Pacific region.