Founder Of Apple Supplier Foxconn Terry Gou Announces Run For Taiwan Presidency
The 72-year-old tycoon will need to collect 290,000 signatures by November 2 to qualify as an independent candidate.
New Delhi: Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of Apple supplier Foxconn, on Monday announced that he will run for president of Taiwan as an independent candidate in the election scheduled for January 2024, reported news agency AFP.
He held a long-running political ambition to become the leader of the island country, facing a setback earlier this year when his bid to become the nominee for the January election of the opposition Kuomintang party fell through. As per the agency, in 2019, he stepped down as Foxconn's chief for a failed presidential run.
Addressing a press conference, Gou said, "I have decided to join the 2024 presidential race."
"I implore the people of Taiwan to give me four years. I promise that I will bring peace to the Taiwan Strait for the next fifty years and lay the deepest foundation of mutual trust between the two sides," he added, reported AFP.
The 72-year-old tycoon will need to collect 290,000 signatures by November 2 to qualify as an independent candidate and has been holding campaign-style events around Taiwan in recent months.
China considers Taiwan its territory, to be taken one day by force if necessary.
However, President Tsai Ing-wen, who is wrapping up her second and final term, refuses to accept that position and Beijing has ramped up diplomatic and military pressure on Taiwan since she came into office in 2016.
Referring to Tsai's party, Gou said, "The Democratic Progressive Party has been in power for more than seven years, and it has brought the danger of war to Taiwan."
He said that he would "never let Taiwan become the next Ukraine", referring to Russia's ongoing invasion, reported AFP.
Gou made his fortune turning Foxconn into the world's largest contract producer of electronics, including for Apple's iPhones.
Foxconn has built huge factories in China, and critics have alleged that he shares a close relationship with the leadership in Beijing.
When asked about his links to the Chinese government, Gou said he has not been involved in the firm's management for four years.
"I have never been under the control of (the Chinese Communist Party)... I will not be threatened," he told reporters on Monday.
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