Earlier this week, President Tsai Ing-wen appointed leading business tycoon Morris Chang to attend this year’s APEC summit on her behalf. Chang is the founder of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest chipmaker by market capitalization.

This year’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit is set to kick off in Malaysia next Friday in a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The theme for the 2020 APEC summit is “Optimising Human Potential Towards a Resilient Future of Shared Prosperity.” At a press conference held on Tuesday at the Presidential Office, President Tsai said that Chang has experience in promoting cooperation between Taiwan and other APEC member countries from previous years’ APEC summits. As a result, she said Chang is the best person to attend this year’s event.

This will be the fourth time that Chang has represented Taiwan at an APEC summit, and the third time he has attended on behalf of President Tsai. Taiwan’s head of state has been barred from attending APEC summit meetings due to pressure from China.