Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) will be key to the party winning next year’s presidential election, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) said yesterday, adding that he has never considered running as an independent.
Gou was asked about his presidential bid and whom he might choose as a running mate during an interview with reporters after he attended an event in Taipei to mark the 10th anniversary of National Taiwan University’s Tai Cheng Stem Cell Therapy Center.
Asked if he would consider Wang or former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) for vice president, Gou said Wang was one of the party’s essential assets and key to winning next year’s election.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
If the KMT became divided and decided not to utilize Wang’s resources, “every candidate would be hugely impacted,” he said.
Wang and he share the same beliefs, have been good friends for years and have a rapport that goes beyond relationships built purely on political cooperation, he said.
He joined the party primary knowing he and Wang would each work for their goals on their own, but at a certain stage, to ensure a KMT victory, “we can collaborate and any form of cooperation is possible,” Gou said.
Asked if he would run as an independent if he loses the primary, Gou said he had “never thought about it,” and he is determined to help the KMT win the election.
Speaking at the center’s event, Gou reiterated that if elected president, he would have the government pay for childcare for all children aged six or under.
Funding would initially come from imposing a wealth tax on the “ultra rich” and setting up an investment fund with a 4 percent return rate, he said.
It would also be funded by Taiwan’s healthcare industry, which he plans to enhance using new technologies, he said, adding that if the childcare policy ran short of funds, he would make up the difference out of his own pockets.
When a reporter said that it might be illegal for individuals to fund government projects themselves, Gou said many laws are unreasonable and outdated.
“I have spent my whole life fighting for breakthroughs. If there are no innovations and breakthroughs, and people simply follow existing laws, to be honest there would be little point for me to become president. I want to be a president who brings change,” he said.
Asked about Gou’s comments on possible collaboration, Wang said he respects Gou’s opinion, but there was no point talking now about his being Gou’s running mate because it is a hypothetical question.
“As I have previously said, I will run [for president] to the end,” Wang said.
While Wang announced on June 6 that he would not take part in the KMT primary, he has not dropped out of the presidential race or said that he would run as an independent.
He will watch the way things unfold, the former legislative speaker said yesterday.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS