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Taiwan election 2024
ChinaPolitics

Foxconn billionaire Terry Gou announces Taiwanese presidential run

  • Three months after failing to secure KMT nomination the businessman says it’s time to pull independence-leaning DPP ‘off the shelf’
  • The move is expected to help chances of DPP front runner Vice-President William Lai – though analysts say it’s still far too early to predict

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After months of appearing to garner support for a presidential bid, Foxconn founder Terry Gou has announced he plans to run for office in Taiwan’s January elections. Photo: Bloomberg
Lawrence Chungin Taipei
Foxconn founder Terry Gou intends to run for the Taiwanese presidency, making next year’s election a four-way race that is likely to hurt the “non-green” camp and help the chances of Vice-President William Lai Ching-te, the front runner from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
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Revealing his plans at a news conference in Taipei on Monday, Gou said he wanted to stand for the top post in the island’s elections in January because he thought the independence-leaning DPP was corrupt and unable to offer a bright future for the island.

“In the past seven years, the situation in Taiwan has remained grim and its economy, defence and diplomacy have approached the edge of the cliff …. For this, we must pull the DPP off the shelf,” the billionaire businessman said.

Gou failed to win the nomination from the main opposition Kuomintang party, which chose New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih as its candidate in May.

He told journalists on Monday that in the past he had had no desire to take part in politics. That changed because “the DPP has led Taiwan to the risks of war in its seven years of administration” and its “internal policies are full of mistakes”, he said.

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Foxconn billionaire Terry Gou announces Taiwan presidential run as independent candidate

Foxconn billionaire Terry Gou announces Taiwan presidential run as independent candidate

Gou said the opposition camp needed to unite to achieve the goal of overturning the DPP’s hold on power. “That is why I proposed at the end of July the formation of the Grand Public Opinion Alliance in order to choose the best ticket to win in the race,” he said.

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