Taiwanese Trump seizes power ‘You’ve fallen into the mousetrap’

The parallels with Donald Trump are obvious. Terry Gou is a billionaire, dresses similar to the former US president and strives for political power. The 72-year-old founder of tech giant and Apple supplier Foxconn wants to become president of Taiwan next year. But one major difference with Donald Trump stands out in particular: Gou has always lost when he ran for political office – despite his wealth.

Also this time the chances for Gou are not very great. But he is trying to capitalize on the Taiwanese people’s fear of a Chinese invasion. Because the businessman is in favor of a pro-China policy – and also causes reservations in the West.

Fear of Chinese invasion of Taiwan

“There is a risk that war could break out at any time,” Gou told reporters in early April. Peace cannot be taken for granted. “I have to be honest with young people that it is not in their best interest to vote for the DPP, which is pro-Taiwan independence, hates China and is anti-China.”

Terry Gou (or Kuo T’ai-ming) is a Taiwanese entrepreneur. The 72-year-old founded Foxconn, the world’s largest manufacturer of electronic products with more than 1.2 million employees.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is the party of incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen. Terry Gou, on the other hand, announced in April that he intends to run for a general election nomination for the country’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT). He presented himself as the best candidate to avoid war with China.

This story is catching on in Taiwan. Tensions between China and the island republic have recently risen again. The Chinese navy held maneuvers off the coast and Chinese warplanes continued to thunder towards the island. And Gou is using the situation for his political purposes.

“Smoothing relations with Beijing”

But is Terry Gou a credible mediator for Taiwan towards China? What is certain is that the billionaire has good personal and economic relations with the People’s Republic – he also acts out of self-interest. Founded in 1974, tech giant Foxconn is the largest contract manufacturer of Apple iPhones, with major factories in China accounting for most of the production. In total, the company employs more than one million Chinese workers.

Perhaps this is why Terry Gou believes that friendly relations with Beijing are the best protection against a possible military invasion. In doing so, he ignores the fact that Xi Jinping’s ideological basis aims at reuniting China with Taiwan – by force if necessary. The US military also takes the threat of a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan extremely seriously.

“The growing sense of crisis or fear in the US about possible Chinese military action against Taiwan is helping the KMT in this upcoming election,” Kharis Templeman, a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, told Foreign Policy magazine. . “You are credible as the party that can ease relations with Beijing.”

KMT favors other candidates

Gou is now playing into the hands of this development. “He’s a wealthy self-made billionaire who thinks he knows better than anyone how to solve the problems because he’s made a lot of money and been successful over the years,” Templeman said. “Part of his motivation has to do with his ego. Because he holds a very prominent position in the business world, he thinks he can run the government in Taiwan better than all these guys on both sides of the political spectrum.”

Partly because of this self-conviction, connoisseurs see him as the Taiwanese version of Donald Trump. But despite his estimated $7 billion net worth, experts believe it won’t be enough for Terry Gou and his candidacy this time either – the KMT is unlikely to nominate him.

President Tsai Ing-wen cannot run for re-election due to term limits, and the DPP will be in the running with current Vice President Lai Ching-te, who is said to be even more pro-independence. And what are the chances for Terry Gou? “The KMT, on the other hand, is more likely to vote for Hou Yu-ih because he has at least a chance to beat Lai,” Bonnie Glaser, executive director of the Indo-Pacific program at Germany’s Marshall Fund, told Foreign Policy. Gou is too easy to criticize by political opponents, “because of Foxconn and its relations with China”.

Gou resigned as chairman of Foxconn in 2019. However, when he first ran for Taiwan’s highest office, he lost the KMT primary and subsequently resigned from the party. It is not excluded that this will happen again. The KMT seems unwilling to take any chances in order not to jeopardize its chances in the 2024 general election. The party will therefore decide its candidate in the back room and not allow it to be voted on. The Taiwanese Trump will probably have to swallow the next defeat.