China says trade pact application unrelated to new US, UK and Australia alliance

BEIJING, Sept 17 (Reuters) – The Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday that China’s application to hitch the great and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is completely unrelated to a recently formed Indo-Pacific security alliance.

In an appointment dubbed AUKUS, the us and Britain will provide Australia with the technology and capability to deploy nuclear-powered submarines.

China said on Thursday that it had filed an application to hitch the CPTPP trade pact, from which the U.S. Trump administration withdrew in 2017