“I am willing to participate in the primary
election,” Gou said at the party headquarters
in Taipei.
“If I am not chosen, it means I didn’t work
hard enough.”
He told reporters earlier in the day he was
inspired by the Chinese sea goddess Matsu to
seek office. “Three days ago Matsu came to me
in a dream. She told me she hoped the people
will have a better life.”
“Peace, stability, economy and future — these.
words are the script of my religion,” Gou said.
Gou’s candidacy would be the first for a Taiwan
business mogul and may appeal to Taiwanese
who want a different leadership style, said Liang
Kuo-yuan, president of Polaris Research Institute,
a think tank in Taipei. Middle class Taiwanese
dissatisfied with stagnating incomes are most
likely to vote for him, he said.
“He will value timeliness and if something has
run its course, he will quit it,” Liang said. “We will
see efficiency and control of costs.”
Gou is likely to face criticism from China skeptics
in Taiwan over Foxconn’s 12 factories in nine
Chinese cities, said Huang Kwei-bo, vice dean
of the international affairs college at National
Chengchi University in Taipei.
Manufacturing costs less in China than in
Taiwan, where Foxconn is headquartered.
Foxconn factories employ hundreds of
thousands of people in China and have a
reputation for sometimes harsh work conditions.
Image: Mandy Cheng