The Alibaba team, led by CEO Jack Ma, travelled to Taiwan from July 23-28 to participate in a high-level APEC summit addressing the issue "Transforming the Digtal Divide into a Digital Opportunity." During the trip, his first to Taiwan, Jack Ma spoke to several audiences of businesspeople, industry leaders and government officials about ways in which small and medium sized enterprises throughout the region can use the Internet to promote their businesses and find trade opportunities. Jack Ma also had an opportunity to meet with many of the 30,000 Alibaba members in Taiwan to discuss ways in which Alibaba can continue to serve them and facilitate cross-straits trade.


The week began with Jack's speech at an event sponsored by the Institute of Information Technology, in which Jack discussed successful strategies for ecommerce in Asia. The highlight of the week came on Thursday, when Jack addressed more than 100 APEC delegates, sharing success stories and lessons learned from Alibaba's experience over the past 2-1/2 years. Jack argued that Taiwan businesses need not feel threatened by greater competition from mainland companies, and should view China's entry into the WTO as an opportunity for Taiwan businesses, rather than a risk.


Generating great exposure for Alibaba and its members, over 10 leading media in Taiwan reported on Alibaba.com during Jack's visit.