Taiwan’s Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of major Apple assembler Foxconn, on Monday (August 28th) again threw his hat in the ring to be the island’s next president.
After at least two previous failed bids, Gou, 72, is seeking to unite a fractured opposition amid rising tensions with China, which he blames on the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) hostility to Beijing.
“Over the past seven years, the DPP government has not only brought Taiwan dangerously close to war, but has also pursued flawed domestic policies that have failed to resolve the challenges facing Taiwan’s industries and people’s lives,” he said on Monday, announcing his run to be “Taiwan’s CEO” at the January election.
“He’s a straight-talking political outsider,” said Sung Wen-Ti, a political scientist at Australian National University’s Taiwan Studies Program.
“I have never been under the control of the People’s Republic of China,” [Gou] said [Monday]. “I don’t follow their instructions.”
Friends in high places have included former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Gou told Trump he wanted to be a peacemaker between Taiwan, China and the U.S. as Taiwan’s president.
MacDailyNews Note: Just prior to Gou’s candidacy announcement, a Mirror News opinion poll conducted August 27-28 (margin of error of 2.98%), ranked Gou in fourth: Vice President Lai Ching-te led with 33.4%, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chair Ko Wen-je had 22.7%, Kuomintang (KMT) candidate Hou Yu-ih stood at 15.3%, and Gou had 12.9%.
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The two coming presidential elections in Taiwan and US have serious global consequences. If anyone thought that the short-lived Covid related chip delays and shortages were a problem, imagine if China took control of TSCM! Taiwan is THE premium global chip manufacturer. So, let’s keeps China’s grubby (and growingly desperate) communist claws off of freedom-loving Taiwan.