BEIJING—China has filed an application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the country’s commerce ministry said on Thursday, as the world’s second-biggest economy looks to bolster its clout in trade. Commerce Minister Wang Wentao submitted China’s application to join the free trade agreement in a letter to New Zealand’s trade minister, Damien O’Connor, the Chinese ministry said in a statement. The CPTPP was signed by 11 countries including Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, and New Zealand in 2018. Before that, it was known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and seen as an important economic counterweight to China’s regional influence. It was central to then-U.S. President Barack Obama’s strategic pivot to Asia but his successor, President Donald Trump, withdrew the United States from the pact in 2017. Accession to the CPTPP would be a major boost for China following the signing of the 15-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic …