Did Foxconn boss Terry Gou just use mooncakes to announce his run for the Taiwan presidency?

Billionaire businessman delivers pastries to his political allies telling them to ‘stay true to our original intention’

If Gou is to run as an independent against Tsai Ing-wen and Han Kuo-yu he must submit his application in the next few days

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Foxconn founder Terry Gou (left) delivers a box of mooncakes to Taiwan’s former legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng on Wednesday. Photo: CNA

Published: 7:15am, 12 Sep 2019Updated: 7:15am, 12 Sep 2019

While most people in China think of mooncakes as a tasty treat to be eaten over the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Friday, some in Taiwan are using them as a political tool.

On Wednesday, Foxconn founder Terry Gou hand-delivered a selection of the pastries to Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je and former legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng, both of whom are potential political allies, in Taipei amid widespread speculation the billionaire businessman is about to announce his bid to run for president of the self-ruled island.

At the moment, incumbent Tsai Ing-wen of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party is running for re-election as president against just one opponent – Han Kuo-yu, the mayor of Kaohsiung from the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) party.

Gou decorated his mooncakes with a message telling Ko and Wang to “stay true to our original intention”.

Guo (third left) shakes hands with Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je. Photo: Handout

Separately, he urged Ko to fight for the island and Taiwanese people, and appealed to Wang to “follow the will of the gods”.