Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) plans to establish a platform to facilitate dialogue with young people, Gou’s campaign team said yesterday.
The platform would provide assistance to young Taiwanese and could operate under the Yonglin Education Foundation, said Amanda Liu (劉宥彤), a senior member of Gou’s campaign team for the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential primary and chief executive officer of the foundation.
Gou gave instructions to set up the platform in a meeting at the foundation yesterday morning, after being briefed on the foundation’s work over the past few weeks, she said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
From giving talks on campuses and attending forums, Gou is aware that university students have many questions and he hopes to offer them a helping hand, Liu said.
“I believe that he will continue to have a role in public affairs, and that he will not say no to anything that can benefit Taiwan and the Republic of China,” she said.
Gou’s Tiger Fans — a Facebook fan group with more than 18,000 members — on Sunday announced that it had stopped collecting signatures for a petition for Gou to run in next year’s presidential election as an independent candidate, but Liu said that she was not aware of when the petition started or ended, as Gou’s office was not involved.
Gou on Sunday sent two handwritten letters to the fan group and other groups to thank them for their support, she said, adding that his office would hold a meeting with fans later this month once details are decided.
In its announcement, the fan club said that it had met its first-phase goal of collecting more than 50,000 signatures for the petition, launched last month.
The election laws say that a prospective candidate intending to run as an independent must collect signatures from 1.5 percent of the electorate from the previous legislative election, which means that 274,576 signatures are needed to put Gou on the Jan. 11 ballot.
“The stop is temporary, not the end, as we look forward to the beginning of the next phase,” the group said, adding that it would continue as soon as Gou makes “a final decision.”
Separately, KMT Legislator Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday said he and Gou share the same goal of building a better future for Taiwan.
In early June, Wang, who served as legislative speaker for nearly 17 years, said he would not to participate in the KMT’s primary after questioning whether the party could hold a fair race.
Asked if he would run as Gou’s vice president, Wang said that he would not rule it out.
“So far, that [being Gou’s running mate] has not been planned,” Wang said, adding that he and Gou had yet to discuss joining forces for the elections.
Asked if the two of them and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) could form an electoral alliance strong enough to beat KMT presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), Wang said: “This is a hypothetical question, as no such alliance has been formed.”
Yesterday, Han said that he had urged KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) to unite the party’s members before the elections.
If the party headquarters got involved, certain heavyweights could be convinced to join forces, he said, adding that he would put forth his best effort to show his sincerity in cooperating.
Han said that he is still waiting for Gou to return his calls, adding that he had phoned Gou again and left a message on his voicemail.
He had met with Wang several times over the past month and would meet with him again if possible, Han added.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
Taiwan is to extend its visa-waiver program for Philippine passport holders for another year, starting on Aug. 1, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Friday. Lin made the announcement during a reception in Taipei marking the 127th anniversary of Philippine independence and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The decision reflected Taiwan’s commitment to deepening exchanges with the Philippines, the statement cited Lin as saying, adding that it was a key partner under the New Southbound Policy launched in 2016. Lin also expressed hope
RSS