Foxconn Founder Terry Gou Announces Run For Taiwan Presidency, Pledging To Fix China Ties (theguardian.com) 63
Foxconn's billionaire founder, Terry Gou, has announced he intends to enter Taiwan's 2024 presidential race as an independent." Touting his business and finance experience at the tech giant, Gou is pledging to boost the country's economy and fix its relations with China. "Give me four years and I promise that I will bring 50 years of peace to the Taiwan Strait and build the deepest foundation for the mutual trust across the strait ... Taiwan must not become Ukraine and I will not let Taiwan become the next Ukraine." The Guardian reports: Gou has hinted at running for several months after he was not chosen as the candidate for the main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT). He pledged support for the KMT's chosen candidate, Hou Yo-ih, but continued to hold public campaign-style events. Gou will need to collect 290,000 signatures by early November to qualify as an independent candidate.
The entrance of Gou into the campaign adds further intrigue to what was already an unusual race. Lai Ching-te, the current vice-president and presidential nominee for the ruling DPP, is polling ahead of both the KMT's Hou, the current mayor of New Taipei City and a former police chief, and Ko Wen-je, the former mayor of Taipei City and nominee for the Taiwan People's party he founded. A poll last week found Lai's support was at 43%, compared with 27% for Ko, and just 14% for the KMT's Hou. More than 16% were undecided or refused to answer.
In his speech Gou called for an anti-DPP coalition. Ko, Hou and Gou are all considered to be from the pan-blue side of Taiwanese politics which adheres more closely to a Chinese identity. However initial reaction from analysts was that Gou's entry into the race would probably split the blue vote further and instead benefit the DPP.
The entrance of Gou into the campaign adds further intrigue to what was already an unusual race. Lai Ching-te, the current vice-president and presidential nominee for the ruling DPP, is polling ahead of both the KMT's Hou, the current mayor of New Taipei City and a former police chief, and Ko Wen-je, the former mayor of Taipei City and nominee for the Taiwan People's party he founded. A poll last week found Lai's support was at 43%, compared with 27% for Ko, and just 14% for the KMT's Hou. More than 16% were undecided or refused to answer.
In his speech Gou called for an anti-DPP coalition. Ko, Hou and Gou are all considered to be from the pan-blue side of Taiwanese politics which adheres more closely to a Chinese identity. However initial reaction from analysts was that Gou's entry into the race would probably split the blue vote further and instead benefit the DPP.
foxconn can just move to WI and build in USA! (Score:2, Funny)
foxconn can just move to WI and build in USA!
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Can't be the next Ukraine (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Can't be the next Ukraine (Score:5, Insightful)
fighting a stupid, senseless war
You got one part of your nonsensical ramblings correct. This is a stupid, senseless war brought on Putin's dreams of resurrecting (the correct word) the former Soviet Union. At this point he's already lost and doesn't care how many Russians die so long as he can stay in power and siphon more money from the Russian people.
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Putin doesn't want to bring back the USSR. He wants to bring back the Russian Empire. He's not a communist.
Re: Can't be the next Ukraine (Score:2)
The USSR after 1928 was basically the Tsarist empire, run mostly by the exact same bureaucrats as before, under a different flag and with a slightly different set of rules, run by a new Tsar called Stalin. Putin really wants back to those days. He has zero desire for an empire in the old style, which was unproductive and couldn't compete with the West.
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Re: Can't be the next Ukraine (Score:2)
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Putin doesn't want to bring back the USSR. He wants to bring back the Russian Empire. He's not a communist.
You might as well be talking to a wall here. For reasons I'll never really understand, much of Slashdot is very Neocon when it comes to Russia, and everything is "Muh Soviet Empire". Nobody in Russia wants to bring back the Soviet Union. The memories of long lines, bad food, and Marxist bullshit is still fresh in their minds. Russians are, however, very romantic about Russian history, and the concept of the The Rus, and see Ukraine (and Belarus) as part and parcel of Russia from the very beginnings of their
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If you don't understand this... and most Americans don't... then you'll never understand why Russia will never give up on Ukraine.
We know the difference, we just don't care. Russians were skunks under the Tsars, they were skunks under the Communists, and -- surprise, surprise! -- they are still skunks under Putin.
To be more precise, we were always told they were skunks, but it was easy to stop believing it in the post-glasnost era. After all, if people can change for the better, why can't nations?
Well, we
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Very true, unfortunately.
But the fact is, we stopped him.
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At this point he's already lost and doesn't care how many Russians die so long as he can stay in power and siphon more money from the Russian people.
Not sure about the money part, since he is already old (what does a few more billions mean to him when he probably has nothing to spend even one of his current billions on) and he can't exactly travel around the world spending whatever money he already grabbed till now.
I don't get dictators who are in it for the money. Generally the country ends up shit, and there isn't much worth spending the ill gotten gains on within the country. And since you are usually not liked around most of the world, you normally
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Re:Can't be the next Ukraine (Score:5, Insightful)
This is just... pathetic.
Russia sent troops into Ukraine. Ukraine did not choose to engage in war, Russia invaded and forced their hands. There is no spin to be had on this specific conflict, it's cut and dry. Russia wanted Ukraine's resources and went in with force.
There's plenty of fodder for showing US as a bad actor in the world, but the Ukraine conflict isn't going to provide it.
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Both sides have propaganda, and Putinistas make the mistake of thinking that believing the other side's propaganda is counterbalance.
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Russia sent troops into Ukraine. Ukraine did not choose to engage in war, Russia invaded and forced their hands. There is no spin to be had on this specific conflict, it's cut and dry.
Except it isn't. This conflict has been festering for about 10 years now and in some respects much longer. It is far from cut and dry.
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Yes, festering when Russia invaded and conquered Crimea.
As these things go, it's pretty cut and dry.
If Russia just kept their soldiers on their own territory, there'd be no military conflict. It really is that simple. There was no Ukrainian aggression, there was no humanitarian crisis inside Ukraine borders, there weren't even disputed borders. Russia just decided they needed Ukrainian resources including land, better access to the Mediterranean, and industrial resources and to just take it by force.
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There was no Ukrainian aggression, there was no humanitarian crisis inside Ukraine borders, there weren't even disputed borders.
No, that's not true either. The east of ukraine has been an issue for russia for a long time. Their claim is not new. That conflict escalated over the years with, indeed, the russians being the aggressors. But it's not a new and sudden conflict.
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Russia did not raise these language and culture issues in 1991. Instead they signed a treaty acknowledging Ukraine to be an independent nation *and agreed on the international borders*. I am aware of the intrigue and government machinations between the two over the last 20 years. That does not justify what Russia started militarily in 2014.
The "escalation" as you put it is all on Putin. This is demonstrated by his invasion of Georgia in 2008.
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Or you could actually make an attempt to use your brain and try to understand this conflict.
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Fuck you guys are stupid.
I don't think you understand the level of your own stupidity.
I haven't expressed a like nor dislike for putin so it's kindof fucked up that you call me a putin asskisser.
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Reply to: Re: Can't be the next Ukraine
By: BardBollocks:
bollocks
Well, I don't know what I expected
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"Well, I don't know what I expected"
Yes you did. It says it right on the tin. And it delivered.
"Bollocks".
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While too many here on slashdot are either paid to spread nonsense, or misinformed, many of those people, including Terry Gou, are aware of the reality of International Relations and the activities of the U.S. State Department due to Wikileaks bringing that information to the world.
That really doesn't even come into it. Because of his time doing business with the West, Gou seems to think that China can be placated with a business deal.
"Give me four years and I promise that I will bring 50 years of peace to the Taiwan Strait and build the deepest foundation for the mutual trust across the strait"
He'll fail because the conflict was never about "mutual trust". China's position is that Taiwan is Chinese and was stolen from the motherland by traitors aligned with the West. They want back what they see as theirs, simply put. It comes down to deep, national and ethnic pride on the part of China.
Their first priority after recovering from Mao was intern
It won't be a surrender because... (Score:5, Insightful)
as a rich guy whose fortunes depend on China, he will SELL Taiwan's freedom at a discount. He assumes he will be just fine as he consigns countless millions of current and future Taiwanese people to subjugation under the boot of the Chinese communist party.
People like this clown are all the same, and they NEVER learn from the past; they're so blinded by their own short-term self-interests that they generally cannot even conceive of the idea that their new masters will turn on them. When all the "unimportant little people" around them, who they have sold-out, are persecuted and oppressed, they'll look away and tell themselves THEY were the smart ones and those people suffering were dumb to have not done the same thing. Then, someday later, they'll be SHOCKED when other servants of their new masters knock on THEIR door...
The people of Taiwan need to pay VERY close attention to what happened to all the people of Hong Kong who did not perfectly obey their new masters on the mainland, and particularly at the degree to which China proved it never had any intentions of honoring all the "deals" it signed on to before the clamp-downs.
Re: It won't be a surrender because... (Score:1)
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Since his "hibernation" he hasn't said anything bad about the Chinese gavernment
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Terry Gou is NOT Taiwanese. His family is from Mainland China....they moved to Taiwan when the Communists took over. Gou is a "waishengren". Of course he supports the KMT.
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What he'll do, is split the pro-CCP / pro-appeasement vote with the KMT, virtually guaranteeing a DPP win (just in case the combination of Hong Kong's ongoing nightmare, COVID, and everything else that's been going on for the last five years or so, haven't already done a sufficiently thorough job of elevating DPP popularity).
Which is all good from our perspective in the West.
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And the head of FoxConn will happily hand Taiwan over to the CCP so Xi Jinping can crow about the size of his....hands. Taiwanese would be stupid to allow him to become president.
Did John J. Mearsheimer cause the new cold war? (Score:2)
"Why China Cannot Rise Peacefully" https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
By his own account the Chinese took him seriously. Did the tail wag the dog?
The preparation by China for Mearsheimer’s scenario would be to start treating the US as a future enemy. They would want to build up defenses and fortify their borders. Make sure Hong Kong did not go democratic where elections could be influenced by medaling outsi
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The Chinese plan on the long term. 10 years is nothing for them.
The plan to conquer the pacific (and more) has been laid decades ago, just look it up.
Never forget that "The communist revolution will only stop when the entire world is communist".
Weird.. it reminds me of "The jihad will only stop when the entire world is Islamic"
Could both have the same origin? I wonder ... /s
Re: Did John J. Mearsheimer cause the new cold war (Score:2)
Manifest destiny, but rephrased by other political parties. Nothing more.
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Well then, I would very like to know of other:
_Major Political system that promotes war and subjugation of the entire planet by force.
_Major Religion that promotes war and subjugation of the entire planet by force.
Those two I cited seem like outliers in their own group, just as if they had the same origin. Or if one was the updated version of the other.
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Well then, I would very like to know of other: _Major Political system that promotes war and subjugation of the entire planet by force. _Major Religion that promotes war and subjugation of the entire planet by force.
Those two I cited seem like outliers in their own group, just as if they had the same origin. Or if one was the updated version of the other.
I'm sure if you went back far enough you'd find:
_Major tribe of continent that promotes war and subjugation of the entire planet by force.
It's militarism with some innate belief that "we deserve it all," whether you want to say it was dictated by god (manifest destiny) or fate or because you woke up with extra hard morning wood and an idea you can't shake, it's all some gut-level, "I'm a leader and I want more" human thing. Power begets a desire for more power, and once that scale tips, it can very easily
Heâ(TM)ll lose (Score:1)
So, “lets be the next Hong Kong” (Score:5, Insightful)
Does this actually resonate with Taiwanese people? I’m asking seriously any Taiwanese want to weigh in here? I’m on the other side of the planet and raised in a different culture, so I don’t really trust my perception on this one. to me it sounds like an alligator inviting a zebra to hop into it’s jaws.
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I could see a number of takers:
-I'm sure there are sincerely pro-China folks. In any population you can generally find a "pro-Anything" subgroup, I presume China to be no exception. That being said, I'd imagine this group is fairly small, given Taiwan's economic power and good standing, China doesn't really offer them a lot of arguable benefits over the status quo.
-Folks that just fear the prospect of lethal military conflict at all costs. They fear that, like in Ukraine, one day a massive force is going
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China doesn't want to take Taiwan because or for its chip industry.
It is a matter of survival. A matter of historic and cultural survival.
You need to understand that there is not ONE China, there are always several Chinas.
For example, keep in mind that people in the south can't understand what people in the North are saying. They don't speak the same language. It is written the same, but can't be understood by the other.
All you need to know about China is this:
"The empire, long divided, must unite; long uni
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Is basically his rallying cry.
Does this actually resonate with Taiwanese people? I’m asking seriously any Taiwanese want to weigh in here? I’m on the other side of the planet and raised in a different culture, so I don’t really trust my perception on this one. to me it sounds like an alligator inviting a zebra to hop into it’s jaws.
As the article says, he is expected to be the 3rd candidate on the "blue" side. So, this benefits the lone green candidate, who already polls with about half the vote among three candidates.
Gou is already known to be China-friendly, which plays well to only a small part of the electorate. There are anti-green votes based on the economy, but those votes are going to be split 3-ways with Gou entering the race.
In Taiwan, the anti-China sentiment is not only political. It's now also cultural. Most Taiwanese
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Taiwan has been moving closer to the West for a while, with visits from Western leaders and buying arms from the US. China is obviously not happy about that, and you can easily see how if Taiwan say joined with US sanctions it would likely lead to a war.
What he is proposing is backing off from that and instead cooperating more with China. China wants to secure high end chip fabrication, for example, and Taiwan could help with that.
Becoming part of the PRC is not on the cards. It's about de-escalating the cu
Re:So, “lets be the next Hong Kong” (Score:4, Interesting)
Does this actually resonate with Taiwanese people?
Until recently, people in Taiwan liked the idea of eventually unifying with China, which they see as a winner. They've gotten a lot of economic benefits over the past 20 years by improving ties with China. So that's where he's coming from, he wants to continue improving economic ties with China, without necessarily allowing China sovereignty over the country.
The Sunflower Protests are when that changed [wikipedia.org]. People in Taiwan saw the CSSTA as an attempt by the Chinese government to take over the free press in Taiwan, so they could push propaganda. For example, a lot of people worried that under CSSTA, China wanted the right to put magazines in hair salons, which is a good way to push propaganda.
Still, if China ever becomes a democracy, or if Taiwan can unify without the people losing their rights, there will be no reason for Taiwan not to unify with China, and Taiwanese people recognize that, and even look forward to that.
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Taiwanese have also been watching how China was handling HK since the handover and the recent crackdowns over there actually boosted the support for those who did not want to join China in any way.
Now they know that no matter what China says about having 2 systems / seperate type of governance for Taiwan if they join China, it will only last until China decided they didn't like it.
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"Still, if China ever becomes a democracy"
Just a pet peeve of mine, I see what you mean and I'm only replying to help cast light on an important concept.
To re-use an old template:
"Democracy. You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means"
The words you are looking for is constitutional democratic republic.
Democracy just by itself is simply the tyranny of the majority. If the majority decides you have no rights anymore, then you lose them. Do you think the continental Chinese would l
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It might resonate with at least some of the KMT's supporters.
DPP voters, not so much.
Will Gou sell Tiawan to China for money? (Score:4, Informative)
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Gou is all in, he will risk Taiwan for all of the chips.
Why does this sound familiar? (Score:2, Offtopic)
Touting his business and finance experience
I'm trying to remember the last time someone claimed they were a great businessman despite the multitude of failed businesses and how things went. Can someone remind me?
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I'm trying to remember the last time someone claimed they were a great businessman despite the multitude of failed businesses and how things went. Can someone remind me?
Why on earth would you attempt to draw that parallel in a discussion about the founder of Foxconn?
There are plenty of legitimate things to rail against here... but Foxconn is pretty much the antithesis of a failed business.
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The only true reason Foxconn exists is because of Apple. When you look at all the times Foxconn has said they'd do something and how they failed to deliver, while soaking the taxpayers, you'd understand the comment.
Re: Why does this sound familiar? (Score:2)
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The road you propose leads to assimilation.
I agree that needless provocation is bad, but if the Taiwanese dont cultivate relations with other nations, there will be no one to purchase the tools of deterrence from
Look at how many countries China has managed to pressure into dissolving their ties to Taiwan.
Short of a radical change in mainland China, Taiwan will become part of China unless they continue to distance themselves to the extent possible.
How does that KMT propaganda taste? (Score:2)
Reading some of these knee-jerk responses make me think that some slashdotters REALLY love that Kuomintang propaganda.
American politics has normalized its party politics around a couple of key issues, but in Taiwan, there is only one issue: whether or not you are pro-KMT.
If you are not pro KMT, then you are basically cast as a pro-china scumbag. This article is Taiwanese political agitprop masquerading as a legit news story.
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If you are not pro KMT, then you are basically cast as a pro-china scumbag
You need to calm down. The KMT is the party that favors closer ties to China.
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What the hell? The KMT is the party that believes there's only once China and it will one day be united. Historically, that meant they thought they were going to re-take the mainland and overthrow the illegitimate PRC government. They've largely given up on that now, and talk about closer ties with China instead. The DPP is the party that leans towards the position that Taiwan will eventually be recognised as an independent country.
Terry Gou: You can't eat democracy! (Score:1)
That time in 2014 when Terry Gou criticized the student protesters who successfully defended Taiwan's economy from Chinese takeover by saying ("You can't eat democracy!")
https://www.chinatimes.com/new... [chinatimes.com]