Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of major Apple supplier Foxconn, announced on Monday a bid to be Taiwan’s president in January elections, saying he wanted to unite the opposition and ensure the island did not become “the next Ukraine”.
Gou is the fourth person to throw his hat in the ring, but his poll numbers before his announcement put him well behind the front-runner, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) William Lai, who is currently vice president.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
TAIPEI, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of major Apple supplier Foxconn, announced on Monday a bid to be Taiwan’s president in January elections, saying he wanted to unite the opposition and ensure the island did not become “the next Ukraine”.
Gou is the fourth person to throw his hat in the ring, but his poll numbers before his announcement put him well behind the front-runner, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) William Lai, who is currently vice president.
Gou, 72, stepped down as Foxconn chief in 2019 and made his first presidential bid that year, but dropped out after he failed to win the nomination for Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang KMT.
Huang Kwei-bo, an associate professor of diplomacy at Taipei’s National Chengchi University and a former KMT deputy secretary general, said Gou’s candidacy risked further dividing the opposition vote.
Gou reiterated a call for “unity” amongst opposition parties, urging Ko and Hou to sit down with him and discuss plans to join forces in order to win the election against the DPP.
The run up to the election is taking place at a time of increased tensions between Taipei and Beijing, as China stages regular military exercises near the island to assert its sovereignty claims.
The original article contains 685 words, the summary contains 211 words. Saved 69%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!