Billionaire President: Will Terry Gou’s experiment succeed in making Taiwan an economic superpower?

Taiwanese billionaire Terry Gou has resigned from the board of directors of Foxconn, the world’s largest iPhone supplier, in order to prepare to run in the presidential elections.

After 45 years of leading Foxconn, Terry Gou decided to shift his life’s path from business to politics, promising to achieve major successes in just 4 years if he became president of the country.

Terry Gou’s fortune is $7.2 billion, and he is third on the list of billionaires in Taiwan, and 336th on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people.

Independence, peace and conflicts of interest

Gou faces a major challenge represented by China’s threat to his country, as Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory.

Gou himself faces accusations of a potential conflict of interest with China, as he is a major shareholder in Foxconn, which has huge investments in China. Which raises expectations that he will submit to Beijing or sacrifice the country’s rights so that his money is not affected.

“Give me 4 years and I promise that I will achieve peace in the Taiwan Strait for 50 years, lay the deepest foundation for cross-Strait mutual trust, and will not allow Taiwan to become the next Ukraine,” Gou told voters.

Gou vowed that he was willing to sacrifice his personal assets in China if Beijing launched an attack on Taiwan.

“I have never been under the control of the People’s Republic of China. I do not follow their instructions,” Gou stated.

Gou is the fourth person to announce his intention to run in the elections, but opinion polls conducted before announcing his candidacy put him behind the front-runner, William Lai of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, who is currently the vice president of Taiwan.

Gou has repeatedly accused the Democratic Progressive Party of seeking war with China, which says the island is part of its territory.

The government and Lai expressed their willingness on several occasions to hold talks with China, which was rejected because Beijing considers them separatists.

Gou is seeking to unite the opposition against the Democratic Progressive Party, but no agreements have been reached so far.