to sign on to these new standards on trade and investment. China reacted by accelerating its own trade initiatives in Asia." In 2013, it was thought China might still be interested in joining the TPP eventually. An academic analysis has shown that while the TPP would be more successful if China participated in it, the benefits to China are intangible. In October 2015, Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared Indonesia's intention to join the TPP. , Sri Lanka announced its interest in joining the TPP and studied its feasibility. Likewise, Cambodia announced its interest in joining the TPP and is studied its feasibility. In February 2021, the United Kingdom applied for membership of the CPTPP, the successor to the TPP. In September 2021, China applied for membership of the CPTPP. Japan, the 2021 chair of the CPTPP, said that it would consult with member countries to respond to China's request. History Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement Brunei, Chile, Singapore and New Zealand are parties to the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPSEP), which was signed in 2005, and entered into force in 2006. The original TPSEP agreement contains an accession clause and affirms the members' "commitment to encourage the accession to this Agreement by other economies". It is a comprehensive agreement, affecting trade in goods, rules of origin, trade remedies, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, trade in services, intellectual property, government procurement and competition policy. Among other things, it called for a 90-percent reduction of all tariffs between member countries by 1 January 2006, and reduction of all trade tariffs to zero by the year 2015. Although original and negotiating parties are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), TPSEP is not an APEC initiative. However, the TPP is considered to be a pathfinder for the proposed Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP), an APEC initiative. Original negotiations In January 2008, the U.S. entered talks with the Pacific 4 (P4) members regarding trade liberalisation in financial services. This led to 19 formal negotiation rounds and a subsequent series of additional meetings, such as Chief Negotiators Meetings and Ministers Meetings, and resulted in the agreement announced on 5 October 2015. Ratification of the original agreement Japan and New Zealand ratified the original agreement. Japan and its main competitor in the region, China, hold polar views on how South-East Asia's economy should develop. Prior to TPP, Japan tried