President Chen Shui-bian designated Morris Chang, chairman of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), as his envoy to the informal leadership meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam on November 18 and 19.
President Chen made the announcement on October 30 when meeting with Hoang Van Dung, envoy from Vietnam, host of this year's APEC meeting. Mr. Hoang delivered to the president the invitation for the APEC meeting on behalf of Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet.
Chairman Chang is a world-renowned IC specialist and also known as father of Taiwan's semiconductor industry. The IC company he founded, TSMC, has been the world's leading foundry service provider. "Chang is our best choice for the APEC meeting this year," said President Chen. "Though I can not attend the meeting in person, I hope that he could enjoy the same treatment as the attendees from other countries."
In the meeting, President Chen thanked his guest for paying a visit to Taiwan regardless of China's opposition.
In response, Hoang expressed his appreciation for Taiwan's support for Vietnam's bid for World Trade Organization and APEC membership.
According to President Chen, Vietnam has made impressive progress since it launched economic reform 20 years ago. Many Taiwan businesses have set up production lines in Vietnam. To date, there are over 30,000 Taiwanese businesses investing in Vietnam with a total paid-in capital of US$ 8 billion. The Taiwan-Vietnam bilateral trade reached a whopping US$ 5.3 billion in 2005.