Hon Hai Precision Industry Co chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) on Thursday urged Beijing to recognize the existence of the Republic of China (ROC) and give it greater international space.
“We 100% agree that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China, but this refers to the Chinese nation,” Gou told reporters on board his flight to Wisconsin from Washington, where he met US President Donald Trump at the White House a day earlier.
However, Gou called on Beijing not to squeeze Taiwan on the world stage and allow it to take part in international activities, warning that a continued hard line would have consequences.
Photo: CNA
“Without international space, Taiwan’s leaders won’t be able to make overseas visits, which will ultimately result in destabilizing the foundation for peace between the two sides,” he said.
Gou last month declared his intention to run in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential primary.
Should he win the party’s nomination, he would challenge the candidate to be fielded by the Democratic Progressive Party in the presidential election in January next year.
Gou was later greeted by Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers at Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, not far from where Hon Hai, known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group, has committed to invest US$10 billion to build a flat-panel display factory.
The Hon Hai chairman has promised to create 13,000 job opportunities with the project in Wisconsin in exchange for up to US$4 billion of state incentives.
Hon Hai reached the deal with former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and Evers has been critical of the project and expressed his skepticism that the company would meet its commitments.
Evers said two weeks ago that the idea that the company would create 13,000 jobs was “difficult to imagine” and an “unrealistic expectation.”
However, after Gou and Evers met for the first time at the airport, the governor backtracked from his previous view.
“The fact that I said that they may not have 13,000 [jobs], it could be less, it could be more, to me it doesn’t matter,” Evers was quoted as saying by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I’m not doubting their word, I’m just saying that we want as much clarity as we can going forward, and we talked about what they’re doing right now as far as building.”
Evers said he was “never not supportive” of the deal, despite calling it “lousy” during his campaign for governor and a “horrible deal” in November 2017.
In Washington, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that Gou met with the US president on Wednesday.
“Mr Gou is spending a lot of money in Wisconsin and soon will announce even more investment there,” Huckabee Sanders said.
Trump met Gou for discussions about the Wisconsin project at the White House on Wednesday, with Trump promising to visit when production starts late next year, Gou said.
This story has been updated since it was first published.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
RSS