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 Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.