Foxconn founder Terry Gou to run for Taiwan's presidency
(2023/08/28)
- Reference: 1693211348
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/08/28/foxconn_founder_terry_gou_presidency/
- Source link:
Terry Gou, who founded contract manufacturer to the stars Foxconn, has delivered on his [1]previous promise to stand for election as president of Taiwan.
Gou launched his candidacy with a speech and a [2]Facebook post .
The billionaire's pitch may sound familiar to followers of US politics in recent years. He has promised that if elected, he will:
Use his entrepreneurial experience to cut through political morasses that incumbent parties have proved they cannot address;
Upgrade Taiwan's industry to a new level;
In just four years, make Taiwan a more successful economy than Singapore;
Secure a peace deal with China that lasts 50 years.
Guo is felt to be more pro-China than many Taiwanese politicians – Foxconn's many investments in China are an eloquent reminder he knows how to work with senior mainland officials. However, some of Foxconn's plants have been criticized for providing [3]deeply unpleasant working environments , with the mega-manufacturer sometimes caring little for complaints.
Presidential elections in Taiwan are first-past-the-post – meaning the candidate who wins the most votes gets the gig. Among the presidential powers is the ability to appoint the premier of Taiwan's equivalent of Cabinet, the Executive Yuan. The president has the power to dissolve the unicameral parliament, the Legislative Yuan, but can't control how the body votes.
[4]Foxconn to spend billions bulking its Indian operations – just for starters
[5]Now Foxconn hopes to lure TSMC, Japan’s TMH into India chip fab pact – report
[6]Foxconn, India's star recruit for semiconductor manufacturing, quits
[7]HPE prepares for spicy affair with India to churn out $1B worth of servers
Like a certain Florida man who ran for president after a lifetime sniping at politics – rather than participating in it or trying to understand its workings – Goi has previously teased a run at Taiwan's top job.
He's picked an interesting moment to run. The candidate of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is already in a strong position, according to polls, and alternative candidates are short of competitive. Guo has called for candidates representing entities other than the DPP to unify – presumably behind him.
[8]
Because politicians love getting out of the way to let an outsider with no experience run the show.
[9]
Taiwan's presidential election will take place in January 2024. Before that date, Guo must secure 290,000 signatures to register as an independent candidate and build a coalition of supporters to counterbalance DPP support. Given that he built the world's pre-eminent contract manufacturer – which will soon build everything from semiconductors to electric vehicles – writing off Gou's ability to influence debate appears unwise. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/19/foxconn_founder_guo_taiwan_president/
[2] https://www.facebook.com/TerryGou1018/posts/pfbid0GPTSGYVYNn8TtRrHFZCzMeZaptNY4zsaZhZ1CkB8KU32wHDMVnrTZ7QnBQgoiGHhl?__cft__[0]=AZX81EMe8TnsEXq1ARgQx9Ti8ObDe2ZGjNvPglHwleYaynr_I9OyOfgsQYj_M31He37-6-SpGzM0yy2Jk6SDJ-D-5M-tTbZX-0-dq4h-1fTEZdFit54IX7wgJUDeKyK_6DX4RDkTD1xZD67RxCYj3qe07Otlv_o2x-osT6Jz_Oe4QE_wDn-LxUQcRKBYv0uzd3o&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2014/06/29/foxconn_ceo_suicides_werent_our_fault/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/15/foxconn_q2_2023/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/15/foxconn_tsmc_tmh/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/11/foxconn_quits_india_semiconductor_jv/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/06/hpe_india_server_manufacturing/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZOxwS9jH2hWds0bXTWeE8gAAAYg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZOxwS9jH2hWds0bXTWeE8gAAAYg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Gou launched his candidacy with a speech and a [2]Facebook post .
The billionaire's pitch may sound familiar to followers of US politics in recent years. He has promised that if elected, he will:
Use his entrepreneurial experience to cut through political morasses that incumbent parties have proved they cannot address;
Upgrade Taiwan's industry to a new level;
In just four years, make Taiwan a more successful economy than Singapore;
Secure a peace deal with China that lasts 50 years.
Guo is felt to be more pro-China than many Taiwanese politicians – Foxconn's many investments in China are an eloquent reminder he knows how to work with senior mainland officials. However, some of Foxconn's plants have been criticized for providing [3]deeply unpleasant working environments , with the mega-manufacturer sometimes caring little for complaints.
Presidential elections in Taiwan are first-past-the-post – meaning the candidate who wins the most votes gets the gig. Among the presidential powers is the ability to appoint the premier of Taiwan's equivalent of Cabinet, the Executive Yuan. The president has the power to dissolve the unicameral parliament, the Legislative Yuan, but can't control how the body votes.
[4]Foxconn to spend billions bulking its Indian operations – just for starters
[5]Now Foxconn hopes to lure TSMC, Japan’s TMH into India chip fab pact – report
[6]Foxconn, India's star recruit for semiconductor manufacturing, quits
[7]HPE prepares for spicy affair with India to churn out $1B worth of servers
Like a certain Florida man who ran for president after a lifetime sniping at politics – rather than participating in it or trying to understand its workings – Goi has previously teased a run at Taiwan's top job.
He's picked an interesting moment to run. The candidate of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is already in a strong position, according to polls, and alternative candidates are short of competitive. Guo has called for candidates representing entities other than the DPP to unify – presumably behind him.
[8]
Because politicians love getting out of the way to let an outsider with no experience run the show.
[9]
Taiwan's presidential election will take place in January 2024. Before that date, Guo must secure 290,000 signatures to register as an independent candidate and build a coalition of supporters to counterbalance DPP support. Given that he built the world's pre-eminent contract manufacturer – which will soon build everything from semiconductors to electric vehicles – writing off Gou's ability to influence debate appears unwise. ®
Get our [10]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/19/foxconn_founder_guo_taiwan_president/
[2] https://www.facebook.com/TerryGou1018/posts/pfbid0GPTSGYVYNn8TtRrHFZCzMeZaptNY4zsaZhZ1CkB8KU32wHDMVnrTZ7QnBQgoiGHhl?__cft__[0]=AZX81EMe8TnsEXq1ARgQx9Ti8ObDe2ZGjNvPglHwleYaynr_I9OyOfgsQYj_M31He37-6-SpGzM0yy2Jk6SDJ-D-5M-tTbZX-0-dq4h-1fTEZdFit54IX7wgJUDeKyK_6DX4RDkTD1xZD67RxCYj3qe07Otlv_o2x-osT6Jz_Oe4QE_wDn-LxUQcRKBYv0uzd3o&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2014/06/29/foxconn_ceo_suicides_werent_our_fault/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/15/foxconn_q2_2023/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/15/foxconn_tsmc_tmh/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/11/foxconn_quits_india_semiconductor_jv/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/06/hpe_india_server_manufacturing/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZOxwS9jH2hWds0bXTWeE8gAAAYg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZOxwS9jH2hWds0bXTWeE8gAAAYg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Separation of business and state
jmch
"increased or at least more obvious interlinking of business and state."
IIRC it's been 60-ish years since the "military-industrial complex" was identified as a cancer to democracy. It had already set in by then, and it's been getting worse ever since. Industry and big business have evolved in the meantime, and their hold on government policies has only gotten tighter.
Democracy??
jmch
"Use his entrepreneurial experience to cut through political morasses that incumbent parties have proved they cannot address;"
The "political morass" in a typical liberal democracy is *by design*, because of long and painful experience showing that giving most of governmental power to a single person or small group of people is a BAD IDEA. Slow-moving decision-making is simply a by-product of having multiple stakeholders be able to not only just give their input, but to have a meaningful and constitutionally-protected power to keep government excesses in check. Using "entrepreneurial experience" in this respect sounds to me like operating a government like a company, ie oligarchy or dictatorship
Separation of business and state
In direct contrast to a separation of church/religion and state which has happened or is happening across most countries, we now see an increased or at least more obvious interlinking of business and state.
Not a good idea - too much power in the hands of those who can then shape the state and legislation for their continued enrichment or protection.