Terry Gou of Foxconn follows the example of Trump during the elections in Taiwan

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If he is selected, Gou will likely face Taiwanese incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen in the 2020 elections scheduled for January 11th.

Tsai announced his intention to run in February this year, after defeating local elections in 2018 and seeing his hemorrhagic votes of the Progressive Democratic Party (DPP) at the island level.
The PDP has always been supportive of the moves to formalize Taiwan's de facto independence from China. Since coming to power in 2016, Tsai has been trying to diversify the island's economy so that she is no longer too dependent on her big neighbor, while pushing back what she sees as as an aggressive expansionism in Beijing.
In turn, Beijing has increased pressure on Taiwan by organizing large-scale military exercises around the island, including passing the Liaoning aircraft carrier into the Taiwan Strait. Speaking in January, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Taiwan to adopt "peaceful reunification" with China, saying that independence was a "stalemate".

When he became president, Gou would probably have trouble restoring this relationship, while maintaining Taiwan's traditionally strong ties with Washington.

Foxconn has earned billions by deeply involving in the Chinese economy, where many of its manufacturing plants are located, producing electronics for many American technology companies, including Apple.

Mr. Gou also has close ties with the United States and met with US President Donald Trump, who called him "a friend of mine" and "one of the businessmen." the most prosperous in the world ".
The People's Daily, a spokesman for the Chinese Communist Party, said on Wednesday that "Gou has a unique advantage in handling relations between Taiwan and the mainland and the United States."
Taiwan will elect its next president on January 11, 2020.
On June 28, 2018 in Mt Pleasant, Wisconsin, US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Foxconn President Terry Gou.

Blessings of a goddess

Gou announced his candidacy this week after visiting a temple in Taipei dedicated to the Taoist deity Mazu, guardian angel of sailors.

Wearing a bright red vest and a baseball cap with the flag of the Republic of China – the official name of Taiwan – Gou said that Mazu had given him the blessing of his candidacy.

"If Mazu says you should mobilize, it is not to earn money or for your personal pleasure," Gou told reporters. "I'm telling you, I'm like a godson of Mazu … I will definitely respect and follow Mazu's will."
Speaking later at the KMT headquarters – still wearing his cap – Gou said he was "willing to participate in the primary elections".

"I am not prepared to accept being nominated (without being elected), I am absolutely not prepared to accept being nominated.If I am elected, I will represent the Kuomintang in the 2020 competition", he declared. "If I'm not elected, it means I have not done enough."

In a statement, Foxconn said Gou would run for the presidency only "if the main process – which is still being determined by the party leadership – is open, transparent and grounded."

"When and if this determination is made, Mr. Gou will appear at the KMT primary to request the nomination of the party to the position of president," said a spokeswoman.

A statue of the goddess Mazu (front) is on display in Jenn Lann Temple after her return from a sedan chair during the nine-day Mazu pilgrimage on April 23, 2018 in Dajia, near Taichung, Taiwan.
Besides Mazu, Gou may have been inspired by another source: Trump. According to numerous media reports, the president of Foxconn would have been inspired by Trump's race in 2016 and would have started thinking that he could also be president.

Margaret Lewis, a Taiwanese law professor at Seton Hall University, likened Gou's candidacy to Trump's, and warned against underestimating the Taiwanese billionaire.

"Even though he is obviously flawed in many ways as a candidate, populism can be powerful," she said. "It would be a mistake to treat his race too lightly."

While Gou is definitely a foreign candidate – according to official media, he has not been a member of the KMT since 2000 – he has received support from political party personalities, including the former chief and president of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou, claiming that he was "an ideal candidate."

Lev Nachman, an expert on Taiwanese politics at the University of California at Irvine, said Gou had one thing in particular that the KMT needed: funding.

"Terry Gou is one of Taiwan's richest businessmen and would be able to finance his own campaign," he said. "It's a big problem for the KMT right now."

Supporters celebrate at the DPP headquarters as Tsai Ing-wen declares his victory in the 2016 presidential election in Taiwan.

Beijing support?

Despite a civil war with the Communist Party for the reign of China – before the defeat forces the government of the Republic of China to withdraw to Taiwan – the KMT has been in recent decades the party closer ties and a commitment with Beijing.

Former President Ma had historic talks with Chinese Xi in 2015 and his government massively intensified cross-border economic activity, including a controversial trade deal that triggered mass protests known as Sunflower movement, which are reputed to have allowed Tsai and his PDP The Presidency.
Gou's relations with China are multiple. His company, Foxconn, employs hundreds of thousands of people in factories and manufacturing plants across China.

"Gou is a key player in the Chinese economy and becoming president would put him in a position to bind Taiwan very closely to the Chinese economy in ways that Tsai fought, as his new Southern policy, which aimed to expand Taiwan's trade beyond China, "says Nachman.

Foxconn could also be a potential concern for voters, though.

So far, the company was silent on what a Gou presidential candidate would mean for his relationship with the company he founded.

A spokeswoman said that at present, Mr. Gou remained president and would continue to "provide direction and strategic direction" in seeking the KMT's candidacy.

"That's the million dollar question." To whom is Gou loyal? Taiwan? Foxconn? The two? If the answer is Foxconn or both, it puts Taiwan in a bad position with Gou as president because Foxconn's success is tied, coercively or otherwise, to the Chinese state, "said Nachman.

"In the same way, Trump was only marginally ceded from his assets when he became president, I would not expect Gou to actually distance himself from his (company) )", he added.

"I would be very concerned about Gou's ability to separate his company from his political activities.In view of Foxconn's position within the Chinese economy and Gou's political ideals, I'm not even sure that He can or will do it. "

Seton Hall professor Lewis also warned against the presumption that Gou – or any other KMT president – would be able to magically fix his relationship with Beijing.

"Ma Ying-jeou met Xi Jinping, but I do not think it's fair to compare the Xi Jinping of 2013 with the Xi Jinping of 2019," she said. "He has been able to assume a more assertive stance in recent years."

Can he win?

Gou repeated several times that he did not just want to be anointed as a KMT candidate and that he would fight against the party's main party.

This could be a tight race for the billionaire, with many other potential candidates and candidates, including Han Kuo-yu, who, like Gou himself before, would be a "terrible" president.
Han, an extremely popular KMT mayor of Kaohsiung City, in the south of the country, has not officially announced his candidacy, but has been seen in recent weeks as the party's favorite. He recently toured the United States, meeting lawmakers and business leaders, a traditional first step in running for president.

"Han Kuo-yu is a very interesting and unusual person," Lewis said. "He has not defined a clear policy, with a much more showy approach:" I am something different, even if you do not know what that is, "approach."

As mayor of Kaohsiung, Han has intensified his relations with China and should follow a path similar to that of Gou, described by Lewis as "a general desire to build relations with China, particularly in economic terms", and a belief that this commitment can be economically limited. "

"Currently, Han's popularity in Taiwan is unmatched," said Nachman. "Han also showed, especially during his last trip to Hong Kong, that he was, like Gou, willing to form close ties with the CCP and to advocate for a more pro-unification program. . "

Both countries would prefer closer ties with China. Nachman said that it was even possible that they ended up working together on a ticket that could radically transform politics both within the KMT and in Taiwan.

"This would be the most obviously pro-unification team to have ever been seriously considered for the presidential leadership," he said. "This could very much lead to the end of the current status quo as we know it."

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