Gou, who solely acquired the goahead from the election fee final week after amassing sufficient legitimate signatures to run as an unbiased, mentioned in an announcement he was “withdrawing his physique however not his spirit”.“STOP, RESET, RESTART,” he added, utilizing English.
He didn’t specify what he would do subsequent within the presidential marketing campaign or who he would possibly again — Hou Yu-ih from Tai wan’s largest opposition celebration the Kuomintang (KMT), or former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je from the a lot smaller Taiwan Individuals’s Social gathering (TPP). “Should win! All proper? Full the change of energy and alter Taiwan,” Gou mentioned. Regardless of an enormous promoting marketing campaign, which noticed his face plastered throughout Taiwan, Gou persistently polled far behind his rivals.
Though Gou stepped down as Foxconn chief in 2019 and resigned as a board member in early September, he remained the corporate’s largest shareholder.
Goulargely vanished from public view after a Chinese language newspaper reported final month that China was investigating Foxconn over taxes and different points. The report, within the strongly nationalist World Instances, implied Beijing was sad Gou would possibly break up the opposition vote, doubtlessly guaranteeing a victory for the DPP’s candidate Lai Ching-te, who’s main within the polls.Gou’s determination on Friday got here as a aid for Foxconn’s senior administration, which had assessed eventualities for potential contingency plans after information of the Chinese language inquiry, two folks near Foxconn mentioned.
“It’s a sigh of aid,” mentioned one of many sources. “We had been beforehand slightly bit unsettled, however this mainly places an finish to it,” the particular person mentioned, referring to worries about an escalation of the investigation, which might additional have an effect on its operations in China. Foxconn declined to remark.
