Taiwan: Terry Gou, founder of Foxconn, announces his presidential candidacy

Foxconn founder and billionaire Terry Gou announced on Monday, August 28, his official candidacy for Taiwan's presidential election as an independent. The billionaire had previously sought, unsuccessfully, the nomination of the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan's main opposition party.

"I implore the people of Taiwan to give me four years," Foxconn founder Terry Gou (pictured) said on August 28, 2023. AFP - SAM YEH

By: RFI Follow

Advertising

Read more

« 

I have decided to participate in the January 2024 presidential election and present my candidacy " said Foxconn founder and billionaire Terry Gou at a press conference on Monday, August 28, 2023. "I implore the people of Taiwan to give me four years," he added.

Gou, 72, who has long displayed his presidential ambitions, said earlier this year he was seeking the nomination of the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan's main opposition party. But the KMT preferred a former police chief, Hou Yu-ih, now mayor of New Taipei City despite his poor results in recent weeks.

« I will not be threatened »

Asked about his ties to the Chinese government given Foxconn's massive investments in the mainland, the billionaire recalled that he had not been involved in the management of the company for four years. The group — also known by its official name Hon Hai Precision Industry — is the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer and assembles devices for many companies, including Apple. "I have never been under the control (of the Chinese Communist Party)," Gou said, adding, "I will not be threatened." The founder of Foxconn also promised that he "would never let Taiwan become the next Ukraine" in reference to its invasion by Russia.

« I promise to bring peace »

China considers Taiwan to be one of its provinces whose return it wants to return to its fold, if necessary by force, although it says it favors a peaceful way. "I promise to bring peace to the Taiwan Strait for the next fifty years and establish the deepest foundation of mutual trust between the two sides," Gou added. Relations between Beijing and Taipei soured in 2016 with the coming to power of President Tsai Ing-wen, who refuses any Chinese claim to Taiwan, a refuge for Chinese nationalists at the end of the civil war in China, won by the communists in 1949.

However, it will take the boss of Foxconn, who presents himself as independent, still collect 290,000 signatures to be eligible. Gou has organized several election-style events in Taiwan in recent months. Vice President Lai Ching-te, a member of Tsai Ing-wen's Democratic Progressive Party, is currently the frontrunner.

" READ ALSO China organizes maneuvers around Taiwan and evokes a "severe warning"

NewsletterReceive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

Share:

Read on on the same topics:

• Taiwan
• Society
• Tsai Ing-wen