《TAIPEI TIMES》 Tsai taps Chang for virtual APEC

HAT-TRICK: The president said Morris Chang would share the nation’s continued willingness to help the world battle COVID-19 and solidify its position in global supply chains

/ Staff writer, with CNA

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President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） yesterday named retired entrepreneur Morris Chang （張忠謀） as Taiwan’s representative to the leaders’ meeting of the APEC forum scheduled to open on Friday next week in Malaysia.

It is the third time that Tsai has named Chang, the founder of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co （TSMC）, to attend the APEC summit as her representative.

Despite its status as a full member of the 21-member APEC forum since 1991, Taiwan’s presidents are traditionally prohibited from attending the yearly summit due to China’s opposition.

Tsai said that Chang would have two main tasks at this year’s summit, which is being held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

His first task is to reiterate that Taiwan is willing to contribute further to the world to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and the other is to strengthen Taiwan’s ties with other countries so that it can consolidate its position in global supply chains.

Taiwan would use the APEC summit to pursue bilateral or multilateral economic cooperation agreements with other APEC member states, Tsai said, without further detail.

Tsai said she believes that Chang can strengthen ties with Taiwan’s APEC partners and help Taiwan to find niches of international cooperation.

Chang is to participate in an online meeting from 8pm to 10:05pm on Friday next week from the Presidential Office videoconferencing room, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang （張惇涵） said.

Morris Chang told a news conference held with Tsai that he expects digital technology to dominate economic development in the post-COVID-19 era.

“Taiwan is doing very well in containing the virus by taking advantage of its digital technology capabilities and will be able to share its experience in fighting the disease with other APEC member states,” he said.

The 89-year-old Morris Chang said that holding the summit virtually is unfortunate, because he would not be able to see people he has met at past forums.

He met US Vice President Mike Pence on the sidelines of the 2018 APEC summit in Papua New Guinea for talks on free trade, the highest level of leaders’ talks between the two nations at APEC.

The annual summit is considered an important international dialogue mechanism and platform for economic issues, as well as an important international organization for Taiwan.

As the greatest benefits often come from informal conversations on the sidelines of the event, how much Chang can accomplish at this year’s virtual meeting remains unclear.

The Malaysian government said that the summit would focus on measures among member states that could contain the virus’ spread and an economic vision for beyond this year.

The summit’s theme is “Optimising Human Potential Towards a Resilient Future of Shared Prosperity: Pivot. Prioritise. Progress.”

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES