Foxconn’s Terry Gou: I want to be Taiwan’s president, not running mate

Billionaire Foxconn chairman and Taiwan presidential hopeful Terry Gou Tai-ming has said he is focused only on being the island’s leader and would not be a suitable vice-president for the opposition Kuomintang in January’s presidential poll.

The 68-year-old will be vying with at least three other Kuomintang heavyweights in the party primaries to choose a candidate to challenge incumbent Tsai Ing-wen, but he rejected the idea of taking the role of running mate if he fails to win the presidential ticket.

“I am not the deputy type of person, and I am not suitable to be an aide because I have long been playing the decision-making role,” Gou said in a news conference on Monday after meeting Kuomintang (KMT) chairman Wu Den-yih to exchange views on the party’s primary rules.

Last month, Gou threw his hat in the ring for the self-ruled island’s upcoming election, saying the sea goddess Matsu had told him to “step forward and do something for Taiwanese people”.

On Monday, Gou argued that his business achievements and familiarity with economic and hi-tech issues made him the most qualified person to be leader.

Asked whether he would be willing to be the running mate of the winner if he failed in the primaries, Gou – the leader of his business empire for decades – said he did not think so.

“But I would use other kinds of methods [during the election campaign] to help the winner,” Gou said.

He argued that, with Taiwan facing economic doldrums, it needed a leader capable of heading off the impact of the US-China trade war.

The island’s wealthiest individual with a net worth of more than US$7 billion, Gou said he wanted to become president not to be rich and powerful but because he was concerned for the future of Taiwan’s young people.

He said that last year he had discussed with former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg – the sixth richest person in the United States and the ninth richest in the world, according to Forbes – why he had run for office and what he had achieved.

“[Bloomberg] did that [serving as mayor] not for himself but for the sake of seeking better living, better economy and better city administration for the citizens in New York,” Gou said, adding he had learned a lot from Bloomberg and from the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Gou reiterated his intention to stand on a “fair, just and open” basis, and recommended the party hold public rallies in northern, central and southern Taiwan to allow each hopeful to tell the electorate what they could offer if elected president.

He said all aspirants must respect the primary rules set to be announced by the KMT on Wednesday.

To date, three other KMT heavyweights – former New Taipei mayor Eric Chu Li-luan, former legislature speaker Wang Jin-pyng and former Taipei county magistrate Chou Hsi-wei – have expressed a desire to run for president. Han Kuo-yu, the popular mayor of Kaohsiung who is leading all of the hopefuls in various opinion polls, has also hinted that he may run.

Tsai, who has continued to trail in most opinion polls, faces a strong challenge from former premier William Lai Ching-te for the nomination of the ruling independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party.