Taiwan’s APEC envoy at the center of processor chip tension

By JOHNSON LAI and JOE McDONALD
Associated Press
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s envoy to APEC is the 91-year-old billionaire founder of a computer chip manufacturing giant that operated behind the scenes for decades before being thrust into the center of U.S.-Chinese tension over technology and security. Morris Chang’s dual roles highlight the clash between Taiwan’s status as one of China’s top tech suppliers and Beijing’s threats to attack the self-ruled island democracy of 22 million people, which the mainland’s Communist Party says it part of its territory. Chang transformed the semiconductor industry when he founded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. in 1987 as the first foundry that only produces chips for customers without designing its own.