Taiwan can turn a hi-tech profit from China-US rivalry, Foxconn chairman Terry Gou says
- Presidential hopeful says island needs to be ready to exploit its close ties with both powers as the race for advanced technology ramps up
Beijing and Washington might settle their trade war but they will still be locked in a race for top technology – which Taiwan can profit from, according to Foxconn’s billionaire chairman, Terry Gou.
Gou, who hopes to run as the opposition Kuomintang’s (KMT) candidate in the island’s presidential election next year, said on Tuesday that Taiwan needed a leader who could guide it towards a win-win-win situation founded on cross-strait peace.
“[My strategy] is to create a three-win situation during which Taiwan can make a profit, the US is able to attain its goal and China is able to upgrade and transform its structure,” he told a seminar in Taipei organised by the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, a policy platform headed by the former president.
Gou said Beijing and Washington would reach a deal to end their tariff war, but they would be locked in a technology race, especially in artificial intelligence – a race that Taiwan use its close economic ties to both countries to profit from.
“Taiwan cannot set itself short in this tech war. Taiwan has a lot of advantages that can create opportunities. Taiwan has a unique position between the US and China,” Gou said.
He said the US was poised to move the manufacture of sensitive technology products out of mainland China, and Taiwan’s information and communication sector should be ready to take over some of that production.