A Taiwanese official has asked Australia to support its bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which the Chinese regime opposes. Taipei Economic and Cultural Office representative Elliott Charng told a Parliament committee in Canberra on Tuesday that Taiwan can boost high-technology trade flows and growing demand for Australian minerals. Charng said Australia’s support of Taiwan’s bid would also “send a strong message” to Australian businesses impacted by the Chinese regime’s boycotts of Australian products, which was prompted after Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an inquiry into the origins of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. “Economic sanctions imposed on Australia by China reinforce the argument of engaging with Taiwan more closely and more deeply,” he told the committee. The regional trade group, formed in 2018, currently includes Canada, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. It has received applications from Britain, …