China is studying the possibility of joining a US-led trade agreement for the Asia-Pacific region, a Ministry of Commerce spokesman said in the strongest official sign that Beijing has overcome its earlier opposition to the proposed accord.

"We will analyze the advantages, disadvantages and the possibility of joining the TPP, based on careful research and according to principles of equality and mutual benefit," spokesman Shen Danyang told reporters at a briefing on Thursday about "hot button" trade issues, including China's stance on the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

"China also hopes to exchange information and materials with TPP members on the negotiations," Shen said.

"China has attached importance to the TPP negotiations and continuously followed their development," he added. "China also has continuously listened to the opinions of various government departments and industries on the TPP."

Efforts at economic diversification in the region should be considered in negotiating the trade pact in the form of "flexibility", along with the principles of openness, inclusiveness and transparency, the spokesman said.

In April, countries negotiating the TPP approved Japan's entry as the 12th party to the proposed free-trade zone, potentially widening its scope to nearly 40 percent of global economic activity and one-third of trade. The 17th round of TPP negotiations concluded on May 24 in Peru, and Japan is expected to begin participating in the next round, scheduled for Malaysia in mid-July. Members have said they intend to complete the talks and have a treaty ready for legislative consideration by year's end.

The TPP was launched in March 2010 by Singapore, New Zealand, Chile and Brunei, with the United States joining later in the year. Additional participants are Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Vietnam and, most recently, Japan. China this year has begun to hint at participation, which would be subject to approval by the existing parties.

In March, then-Commerce Minister Chen Deming told reporters that China is open to regional trade agreements as long as they're transparent and inclusive.

The US administration didn't comment on Shen's remarks on Thursday, but White House officials have in the past attached conditions to any possibility of China joining the TPP. If China were to request admission, approval would depend on the country's ability to convince existing members that it would enact economic reforms needed to meet the pact's high standards.

The exclusion of the world's second-biggest economy in a huge Asian trade zone has struck some experts as counterproductive, particularly now that No 3 Japan is engaged.

China and 15 other nations this month began negotiating a free-trade pact, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, under the under the auspices of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

China is also working out a three-way trade deal with Japan and the Republic of Korea.

The potential overlap of those agreements and the TPP - which the US has suggested as a platform for a broader agreement involving all 21 economies in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group - has led some experts to predict an eventual convergence.

josephboris@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 05/31/2013 page10)