Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott,who sits on the UK Board of Trade and visited India last week representing the Australian government on a trade mission,said Australia should negotiate its own free trade agreement with Taiwan,as New Zealand has done.

“ I think it would be good for Taiwan,good for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and good for this sense of solidarity between like-minded democracies if Taiwan was brought in from the cold rather more than it currently is,” he told the Westminster think tank Policy Exchange.

Britain’s Secretary of State Liz Truss also tacitly endorsed the proposal.

“I do observe there were a number of countries looking to join the CPTPP ... and I think it is a big opportunity to build an alliance of like-minded free-trading nations,” she said.

Taiwan said it was already liberalising its regulations to make membership of the bloc more attractive and that Australia and New Zealand architects would benefit first from a trial allowing greater recognition of professional qualifications.

In 2018,Australia reportedly backed out of forming a bilateral trade deal with Taiwan after threats from Beijing.

While Taiwan already trades with all 11 members of the partnership,allowing them entry into the CTPP could be complicated for Western allies such as Australia,which does not recognise Taiwan as a nation,in adherence to the One China policy.

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