Taiwan to send Acer founder Stan Shih to Shenzhen Apec, calls for ‘equal footing’

Taiwan will send Stan Shih, founder of computer giant Acer, to the Apec leaders’ summit in Shenzhen next week and has urged Beijing to ensure its delegation is treated with “dignity”.

Taiwan has been a member economy of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum under the name “Chinese Taipei” since 1991. But the self-ruled island’s leaders have traditionally not attended the summit due to political sensitivities and objections from Beijing. Instead, Taipei is usually represented by a business leader or an economic official.

Shih has been appointed as the envoy by Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te for his “international perspective and industry expertise”, Lai’s spokeswoman Karen Kuo said in a statement on Wednesday.

Shih previously represented Taiwan at the 2007 Apec leaders’ summit in Sydney, Australia, after being appointed by then Taiwanese leader Chen Shui-bian, also of the Democratic Progressive Party like Lai.

Beijing is the host of this year’s Apec meetings. Taiwan has sent delegates to a series of ministerial and senior officials’ meetings held in the lead-up to the Apec leaders’ summit.

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Zhang Han, spokeswoman for the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office, on Wednesday said Beijing “consistently handled matters concerning Taiwan’s participation in Apec in accordance with the one-China principle and the relevant Apec memorandums of understanding, rules and established practices”.

“As long as these arrangements are followed, Taiwan can participate,” she said.

But in the Taipei statement, Kuo said Taiwan’s participation in Apec did not have anything to do with the “one-China principle” and urged Beijing to ensure the Taiwanese delegation was treated with “dignity and security on an equal footing”.

Taiwan’s chief trade negotiator Yang Jen-ni and Labour Minister Hung Sun-han attended ministerial Apec meetings in mainland Chinese cities earlier this year. Finance Minister Chuang Tsui-yun also attended a gathering of Apec finance ministers in Hong Kong last month.

Cross-strait relations have been strained since the independence-leaning DPP returned to power in 2016, despite strong economic and trade ties.

Beijing regards Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States, do not formally recognise the island as independent, though Washington is committed to supplying it with defensive weapons and opposes any forcible takeover.

Taiwan will hold its local elections in the week following the Apec meeting, when voters will elect more than 11,000 local officials including mayors, county magistrates and councillors.

The elections – held midway through Lai’s four-year term as Taiwan’s leader – will be closely watched as a test of the ruling DPP’s popularity and the opposition Kuomintang’s political strength.

On Tuesday, Taiwanese singer-songwriter Lo Ta-yu launched a scathing attack on Lai and the DPP during a radio interview ahead of the elections.

Lo – who is known as the “godfather of Mandarin pop” – has made significant contributions to Chinese-language pop music since the 1980s, fusing rock influences with cultural reflection and social critique.

The musician compared Lai with US President Donald Trump, accusing both leaders of having “divided” their societies “to an unprecedented degree”.

He also warned opposition supporters that they risked being further marginalised unless they became more politically engaged, calling for all Taiwanese to “wake up” for the next generation.