The Foxconn founder’s entry further crowds a pro-China field - which is good news for the China-wary Democratic Progressive Party.
On Monday Terry Gou, founder of Foxconn, one of the world’s biggest electronics manufacturers, and a supplier to Apple and others, told a packed auditorium he was joining the race to be Taiwan’s next president.Wearing his trademark navy-blue cap emblazoned with the Taiwanese flag, and giving military-style salutes, the 72-year-old billionaire said he would contest the election due next January as an independent.
, in 2017, enraged officials in Beijing by calling himself a “pragmatic worker for Taiwan independence”, might have the opposite effect.Even before Gou’s announcement, that looked fairly likely. According to a recent poll published in my-formosa.com, an online magazine, Lai had the support of 39 per cent of voters. Ko had 18 per cent and Hou 16 per cent. As a hypothetical candidate, Gou was drawing 12 per cent.
By applying the same magic to Taiwan’s economy, Gou pledges to double the rate of economic growth, which is forecast to be around 2 per cent this year, and put Taiwan on course to have the highest GDP per capita in Asia within two decades.Critics say his interests would make Gou vulnerable to pressure from Beijing. Far from it, he insisted. If the Communist Party threatened to confiscate Foxconn assets, “I will say: ‘Yes, please do it!’” Yet, such bravado aside, his tactics are unclear.
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