ALBAWABA – iPhone billionaire Terry Guo is running for president in Taiwan, against the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), BBC reported Tuesday.
Guo is the founder of Foxconn, the company that makes the iPhone, and he is 72 years old.
He is the poster child of the rags-to-riches story, having amassed considerable fortunes and built a serious name for himself, out of nothing, according to BBC.
Guo announced his candidacy for the upcoming elections on Monday.
Like another charismatic businessman across the Pacific, the infamous Donald Trump, Guo first attempted to get himself nominated on behalf of Taiwan's main right-of-centre party, the old nationalist KMT (Kuomintang). But unlike Trump in the United States, Guo failed.
Today, Guo seems determined to give it another shot with the next presidential election coming up in January 2024. Even with the KMT choosing another candidate, and Guo quitting the party in disgust. He has decided to move forward.
iPhone billionaire Terry Guo is running for president in Taiwan, but he's not alone
Observers in Taipei told BBC that if Guo was the only candidate standing against the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), he would have a good shot. But he isn't.
Instead, his candidacy will split the opposition vote three ways. And the KMT isn't Guo's only problem.
In a winner-takes-all presidential system, as there are already two opposition candidates vying to unseat the incumbent party, adding a third probably isn't going to make the task easier.
Taiwan has another opposition party, called the Taiwan People's Party (TPP), and it is led by another charismatic populist called Ko Wen-je. Ko is the former mayor of Taipei city and is currently running second in the polls. He is doing particularly well among younger Taiwanese voters.
On the other hand, Guo's main selling points are not just his wealth and business success. It is his experience working in and with China.
People waving the flag of Taiwan at an election event - Shutterstock
Foxconn, or Hon Hai industries, became the world's biggest electronics manufacturer by pioneering the model of combining Taiwanese engineering knowhow with skilled Chinese labour.
In the 1980s and 90s Guo built huge manufacturing campuses in southern China and recruited tens of thousands of young Chinese to work in them.
The model was so successful he eventually persuaded Apple to outsource much of the manufacturing of MacBooks and iPhones to Foxconn. It made Foxconn Taiwan's biggest company and Guo one of its richest entrepreneurs.
Now Guo says he can use that same experience of investing and working in China to protect Taiwan's security. He wants to prevent Taiwan from "becoming another Ukraine", the candidate claims.
Announcing his candidacy, he said he would lead Taiwan "back from the abyss of war with China".
He is not the only one who sees the threat from China as increasingly perilous.
The difference is that Guo blames – not Beijing, but Taiwan's own President Tsai Ying-wen.
He says it is the incumbent DPP's hostility to Beijing that has led Taiwan to the edge of this "abyss".
He blames the president, iPhone billionaire Terry Guo is running for president in Taiwan
Guo wants to return Taiwan to a previous status quo negotiated between Beijing and Taipei back in 1992 and further, he says, he would seal a deal that would bring peace to the island for the next 50 years.
But whether such a deal is attainable is not Guo's biggest challenge.
Instead, it is the electoral maths. What Guo is proposing is just not that popular with Taiwan's electorate.
According to BBC, polls show most Taiwanese do not believe it is their government that is to blame for the growing tensions with Beijing. They do not agree with making concessions to Beijing on sovereignty in order to secure peace. A large majority of Taiwan voters now identify themselves as Taiwanese, not Chinese, and say they would be prepared to fight to defend the sovereignty of their home.
William Lai, Vice President makes a speech during a news conference in Taiwan on April 12 2023 - Shutterstock
Opinion polls also show that around 40 percent of voters are strong supporters of the DPP. That means the ruling party can be beaten. But to have any chance the opposition would have to unite around a single candidate.
If anything, this means that even with just 40 percent of the votes, William Lai from the DPP is still the most likely candidate to become Taiwan's next president.
