China has made a bid to enter a transpacific trade pact originally designed by Washington to limit Beijing’s growing economic and political influence in the region.

The Chinese Department of Commerce on Thursday announced that Beijing’s application for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership had been transmitted over the telephone to New Zealand, which handles requests for membership.

The predecessor for the CPTPP was the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement signed in 2016 by the US, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and seven other countries. It was originally negotiated by then US president Barack Obama to ensure that Washington, rather than Beijing, kept a hand over regional trade and investment rules.