Independent presidential candidate Terry Gou (郭台銘) yesterday named actress Tammy Lai (賴佩霞), known for her role in the Netflix political drama Wave Makers (人選之人), as his running mate for the election in January next year.
Gou, the founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), said at an event in Taipei that he would depend on Lai’s “unique female perspective to foster a more equitable and gender-balanced culture in Taiwan.”
Lai, who portrayed the president in Wave Makers, said that as vice president she would urge overseas businesspeople to “return, invest and remain in Taiwan.”
Photo: RITCHIE B. TONGO, EPA-EFE
Young people cannot envision getting married and having children without a stable economy, depriving many of the joys of grandchildren, Lai said.
“I’m sure we all still remember the incidents in Cambodia, which represented a parent’s worst nightmare,” she said, an apparent reference to cases of Taiwanese being trafficked and imprisoned by telecoms fraud rings in the Southeast Asian nation.
“Due to the poor economic conditions, we were unable to keep our children with us. There is no way we will allow that to happen again,” she said.
Lai said that as vice president, she would communicate the credentials and policies of Gou’s independent ticket by “engaging with opposition parties, the media and most importantly, the public.”
Lai has a master’s degree in international relations and a doctorate in law from China’s Jinan University, Gou’s campaign office said in a statement following the press event.
She is also a writer and the founder of the Collaborative Communications Academy, which advocates for positive communication skills, the statement said.
She would need to renounce her US citizenship to be eligible to run in next year’s election, which it said she would do soon.
Due to a lack of party affiliation, Gou must collect signatures from 289,667 people by Nov. 2 to make it onto the ballot, Central Election Commission (CEC) rules say.
The entrepreneur-turned-politician is also required to register his independent candidacy with the CEC no later than Sunday, the rules say.
His campaign cannot begin the signature drive until after his candidacy is registered.
However, there is speculation that Gou’s campaign would seek a candidacy pact with Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Lai appeared to signal her support for a pact, saying it would be her “mission” to fulfill Gou’s goal of “integrating the opposition.”
Ko described Lai as a “strong candidate” who has been engaged in charitable activities for the past few years.
Hou said that he has been recruited as the KMT’s candidate and intends to “unite all forces to move forward.”
Asked whether he thought the announcement of Lai as Gou’s running mate was timed to coincide with the start of his eight-day trip to the US, Hou said he had not been aware of Gou’s plans.
Separately, the nominees for the Golden Bell Awards were announced, with Lai receiving a Best Supporting Actress nomination in the miniseries/TV movie category for her role in Wave Makers.
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
US President Donald Trump on Friday said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) told him China would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office. Trump made the remarks in an interview with Fox News, ahead of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “I will tell you, you know, you have a very similar thing with President Xi of China and Taiwan, but I don’t believe there’s any way it’s going to happen as long as I’m here. We’ll see,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News’ Special Report. “He told me: ‘I will never do