the region and world’s second-largest
economy, from the ongoing negotiations. At a November 20, 2013, speech, National Security
Advisor to the President Susan Rice reiterated U.S. policy that, “we welcome any nation that is
willing to live up to the high standards of this agreement to join and share in the benefits of the
TPP, and that includes China.”19 The degree to which a potential TPP agreement and its
participants are prepared to include China, as well as China’s willingness or interest in
participating in a comprehensive agreement, will help determine if the TPP truly has the potential
to become an FTAAP. With the agreement’s focus on expansion throughout the region, the current
negotiating partners may wish to establish disciplines now on certain aspects of the Chinese and
other Asia-Pacific economies. This may, in part, explain the push for potential new disciplines on
state-owned enterprises inside the TPP.