If Terry Gou is trying to model himself on US president Donald Trump, he is off to a fine start. The Taiwanese tycoon — founder and chief executive of Hon Hai, the electronics manufacturer better known as Foxconn — has launched a surprise bid for next year’s presidential election. He made his first splash ranting against Taiwan’s political establishment and the country’s most important ally.
Wearing a baseball cap emblazoned with the company logo and that of the Kuomintang (KMT) — the China-friendly main opposition party on whose ticket he wants to run — Mr Gou sat in the front row at a regional security conference to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act, the US law that obliges Washington to help the country defend itself against China.
The tycoon asked a panellist, a lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Progressive party (DPP), which country was more important for Taiwan’s economy — the US or China — and worked himself into a rage over her response.