Taipei [Taiwan], August 28 : Taiwan-based technology company, Foxconn founder Terry Gou, on Monday, announced his bid for the 2024 Presidential election, Taiwan News reported.
At press conference today, Terry Gou said that he had entered into the election race as an independent candidate. Earlier, he announced his bid in 2019 but dropped out after he failed to win the nomination for Taiwan's main opposition party, Kuomingtang (KMT).
In the past week, Gou held private meetings with Taiwan People’s Party presidential candidate Ko Wen-je and KMT presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih, discussing the possibility of a united ticket, though Gou’s announcement today has put to rest any such speculation.
Gou needs to collect around 3,00,000 signatures within 45 days to officially enter the election race, as per Taiwan News.
"If you give me four years as president, I will guarantee 50 years of peace," said Gou. He also pledged not to allow Taiwan to become another Ukraine and would work hard to revitalize Taiwan’s economy.
Following his speech, he took a number of questions from reporters in the audience. One of the reporters asked if his involvement in Hon Hai (Foxconn) could make him susceptible to manipulation and coercion from Chinese authorities.
Gou sidestepped the question by saying that he has delegated these duties to successors, is not involved in the day-to-day activities of these companies, and would refrain from such actions for four years.
"Hon Hai has 10 million shareholders. Each person who owns a single share is like a chairman. So if you freeze these assets, you are taking from all of these shareholders, including people in New York, London, and elsewhere,"
The election in Taiwan has been an issue for China, according to the officials in the island nation.
Officials in Taiwan have described China’s recent military drill around the island country as a pretext to intimidate voters ahead of the nation's presidential elections next year, Al Jazeera reported.
Taiwanese Vice President William Lai, the frontrunner in the January election and the one who made a stopover in the US during his visit to Paraguay said in an interview broadcast late on Saturday that it was not up to China to decide who wins the election.
“It’s not who China likes today, and then they can assume the post. This goes against the spirit of Taiwan’s democracy, and represents huge damage to Taiwan’s democratic system,” he said in the interview that was conducted while he was in New York last week, as per Al Jazeera.
Even Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said that China should hold its own election instead of shaping Taipei.
"The #PRC has made it clear it wants to shape #Taiwan’s coming national election. Well, it’s up to our citizens to decide, not the bully next door. Look, #China should hold its own elections; I’m sure its people would be thrilled," Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said on microblogging site X (formerly known as Twitter).
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