Chinese tax authorities recently searched Hon Hai Precision Industry Co’s offices in China, after the company’s founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) in August announced his intention to run in Taiwan’s presidential election next year, saying he had surpassed the signature drive threshold needed to run as an independent.
Hon Hai, known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group, is the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer and employs more than 1 million workers across China.
China’s authorities recently launched tax audits of Foxconn in Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces, and conducted on-site investigations into its land use in Henan and Hubei provinces, according to a report by the Chinese state-funded Global Times.
The searches are obviously politically motivated, meant to interfere in Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections in January next year.
Although behind in polling, Gou has been considered a crucial variable who could hinder possible cooperation between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) to oust the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
China’s probe is a warning to Gou to withdraw, even though he resigned as Foxconn’s chairman in 2019 and withdrew completely from its board of directors this year. The Global Times, in its English version, said that China was concerned Gou would split the opposition vote, ensuring victory for DPP candidate Vice President William Lai (賴清德).
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesperson Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) said that Taiwanese firms in China “should also assume corresponding social responsibility and play an active role in promoting the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.”
China has long interfered in Taiwan’s elections via military threats, political suppression and economic sanctions. It frequently fines Taiwanese firms and businesspeople in retaliation for their political stances or during sensitive times.
In 2005, Chimei Corp chairman Shi Wen-long (許文龍), who had openly supported DPP candidates, was forced to make a statement renouncing Taiwan’s independence due to Chinese tax audits.
In 2016, Chinese authorities fined Taiwanese restaurant chain Hai Pa Wang, so it publicly pronounced it was “not a DPP-leaning company,” and that it supported “the two sides belonging to one China.”
This year, China imposed sanctions on Taiwanese imports, and TAO Director Song Tao (宋濤) unabashedly said: “Things could be negotiable, as long as [they are done] on [the] basis of the continuation of the ‘1992 consensus’ and opposition to Taiwan independence” right to the faces of KMT county commissioners who were visiting China to plead for the resumption of trade.
However, China’s threats have always roused Taiwanese ire and resentment, driving Taiwanese voters in the opposite direction to that which China would prefer.
Gou has always been considered a China-leaning tycoon, and Foxconn has been a leading enterprise, greatly contributing to Chinese export value. China’s targeting is sure to terrify and force Taiwanese and foreign firms to relocate investments, rubbing salt in the wound and worsening China’s economic woes, such as slow growth and record-high unemployment.
China should have learned from the past and expected a possible backlash from the Foxconn probe. Yet its authorities, as usual, were confident of controlling Gou, who has lately held back on the campaign trail, and pro-China parties and their candidates, such as the KMT and TPP, which have yet to denounce the searches. China’s probe shows its anxiety and bold desire to assure that pro-China candidates win.
To fight back against Chinese interference, it is crucial that Taiwanese make the best choice and take action to protect Taiwan’s democracy and autonomy.
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