Hon Hai Precision Industry chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) is considering running in the next presidential election in 2020, following the success of US president-elect and businessman Donald Trump, a weekly magazine said.
The Chinese-language Next Magazine yesterday published a report saying that on Wednesday last week, after Trump started gaining the lead in the US election, Gou gathered his top executives to discuss strategies should Trump win the presidential race.
Gou reportedly surprised his executives by asking: “Regarding running for the presidency in 2020, what do you think?”
The report said that at first, the executives thought he was asking about matters regarding the 2020 presidential election, but later realized that Gou wanted to go a step further following Trump’s victory.
The report cited high-ranking Hon Hai sources as saying that Gou is not satisfied with government efficiency and policies and has presented several proposals, including a tax on wealthy people.
“However, [the proposals] have not been taken seriously... Gou feels anxious and angry. He is anxious about Taiwan’s competitiveness and angry at the government for being snail-paced, muddleheaded and incompetent,” the sources were quoted as saying.
The report triggered mixed responses from netizens.
Some said the chairman of Hon Hai, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, is their candidate of choice, while others opposed the idea.
Hon Hai has not commented on the report.
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716