Gou, the 68-year-old son of a police officer who
moved to Taiwan after the Communist takeover
of the mainland in 1949, began his career in
plastics before branching out into electronics
and later mobile phones.
China claims sovereignty over self-ruled
Taiwan and has threatened to take it by force
if it deems necessary. More than 80 percent of
Taiwanese oppose unification with China, the
island government’s Mainland Affairs Council
said in January.
Despite that, the Nationalists favor closer ties
with Beijing, largely as a way of recharging the
island’s high-tech economy through access to
China’s massive economy.
“He’s got some problems he’s got to solve,
especially his relations with China, both political
and business,” Huang said.
China despises current President Tsai Ing-wen
for refusing to endorse its claim to Taiwan as
a part of Chinese territory and has cut all ties
with her government while seeking to isolate it
diplomatically. Recent months have seen China
step up military drills around Taiwan in what is
seen as an effort to intimidate the island’s 23
million people into backing pro-China parties.
Gou also has a reputation at Foxconn for being
strict with employees, Huang said. “His personality
is sort of the same as (U.S. President Donald)
Trump: ‘What I say, is what goes,’” Huang said.
Foxconn announced in 2017, to much fanfare,
that it planned to invest $10 billion in Wisconsin
and hire 13,000 people to build an LCD factory
that could make screens for televisions and a
variety of other devices.