Taipei-based Uber driver Chen Shiong has seen business decline by 30 per cent over the past two years, as the city’s residents grapple with a high cost of living amid stagnant wages.

The 60-year-old said he has been able to cope with the declining income, but that is because he is a retiree who drives with Uber mainly to keep busy.

… But according to Wu Shang-su, a research fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, the TPP is no magic bullet. He explained: “If Taiwan joins TPP, then (it) will be very painful, because under the TPP, you have to remove a lot of government intervention. Certain industries protected by the government will now be exposed, that will be unpleasant.”