Terry Gou, the founder of Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer that is a major supplier to Apple, has resigned from the company’s board of directors, less than a week after announcing his candidacy for president of Taiwan.
The billionaire Terry Gou is the founder of Foxconn-Image Source: Sky News
Gou, who resigned as Foxconn’s chairman in 2019, announced on Monday that he would run for president in Taiwan’s January 2024 election as an independent candidate.
In a brief statement, Foxconn said that Gou had resigned “for personal reasons” and that he had “officially handed over the leadership of the group to a professional manager for four years.”
In response to a question on Monday about potential conflicts of interest as a major shareholder in Foxconn, which has significant investments in China, Gou said that he was prepared to “sacrifice” his personal assets in China in the event of a Chinese attack.
“I have never been under the control of the People’s Republic of China… I do not follow their instructions,” he said.
Gou is the fourth person to announce their candidacy for president, but polls conducted before he announced his candidacy put him behind the frontrunner, William Lai of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, who is currently vice president of Taiwan.
Gou has repeatedly accused the Democratic Progressive Party of seeking to provoke a war with China, which claims the island as part of its territory. The government and Lai have expressed willingness to hold talks with China on several occasions, but they have been rebuffed by Beijing, which considers them separatists.
Gou is seeking to unite the opposition against the Democratic Progressive Party, but so far no agreements have been reached.
Lai said in an interview with Formosa Television on Saturday that he would not back down from his campaign after Gou’s announcement.
“On the contrary, I will continue to work even harder, because after Gou announced his candidacy, it is no longer clear how the landscape will change before the election,” he said.
