Foxconn founder and billionaire Terry Gou has entered the Taiwanese presidential race as an independent running on a peace platform.
RT:
Foxconn billionaire Terry Gou, the founder of Apple’s largest supplier, has entered the Taiwanese presidential race to bring peace with China and prevent the self-governing island from becoming a geopolitical pawn in a bloody conflict with its larger neighbor.
“Taiwan must not become Ukraine, and I will not let Taiwan become the next Ukraine,” Gou said in a speech announcing his candidacy on Monday in Taipei. “I implore the Taiwanese people to give me four years. I promise that I will bring 50 years of peace to the Taiwan Strait.” He pledged to build a foundation of “mutual trust” with Beijing.
Gou, 72, became the fourth candidate to enter the race for Taiwan’s presidential election in January. He failed to secure the nomination of the main opposition party, Kuomintang (KMT), just as he did after stepping down as Foxconn’s chairman in 2019, but he decided to run this time around as an independent. If he’s unable to unify opposition forces, he risks splitting the vote, opening the door for a potentially easy victory by current Vice President William Lai, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate.
The entrepreneur has tried to position himself as the only candidate who can prevent war with China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has vowed to reunify with the breakaway province – by force if necessary. Tensions with Beijing have escalated since Tsai Ing-wen took office as president in 2016. Tsai has forged closer ties with Washington and angered Chinese leaders by hosting visits by US politicians, such as then-house speaker Nancy Pelosi last year.
I’m not sure what to make of this. As the RT blurb pointed out, it would shake up the race considerably.
It would just be a real shame if the pro-ZOG party somehow managed to secure a victory because of his presence in the race. Public opinion in Taiwan has shifted towards supporting reunification and no sane person on the island wants war.
Having close ties to the United States made sense for Taiwan when China was not a significant economic power. Now that the US is in economic decline and trying to force the world to do gay sex with one another, it makes much more sense for Taiwan to fully reunify with China.
