Terry Gou, Founder and Former Chairman of Foxconn, announced on Monday that he would be running as an independent candidate in Taiwan’s next January presidential election after his second attempt to lead the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) again proved unsuccessful. Gou joins a full-fledged race to succeed outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen, who is barred from running for re-election due to term restrictions.

As an independent candidate, the Foxconn founder now has to get 290,000 signatures from voters until November 2nd to make his offer official.

The race is crucial not only for cross-strait relations but also for the whole world. The United States relies on chipmakers Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing Company (TSMC), East Asia’s largest company by market cap, to fuel its high-tech economy.

During Tsai’s presidency, Beijing took a more aggressive stance towards the self-governing island. The Chinese government regards Taiwan as a breakaway province and does not rule it out use of military force to prevent it from declaring its formal independence.

Gou has spoken out harshly for the Democratic Progressive Party, which has ruled Taiwan since Tsai won the presidency in 2016. Their more anti-Beijing stance contrasts with the KMT, which favors closer ties with mainland China.

“In the past seven years, I have witnessed Taiwan stand on the brink of collapse from a prosperous country,” Gou said said Mondayciting his dissatisfaction with the economy, defense and foreign policy.

“If we don’t pull out now, it will be too late to save Taiwan from sinking. We must overthrow the Progressive Democratic Party,” he continued.

Gou said he would run prevent Taiwan from becoming “the next Ukraine,” vowed to “bring 50 years of peace across the Taiwan Strait,” and pledged to help the island overtake Singapore in GDP per capita.

Who is Terry Gou?

Terry Gou founded Hon Hai precision industrybetter known internationally as Foxconn, in 1974.

The supplier opened its first plant in mainland China in 1988. The company employs hundreds of thousands of workers at its factories in mainland China, including at its gigantic complex in Zhengzhou, where it makes iPhones for Apple.

Gou is estimated to be worth nearly $7 billion Bloomberg. He stays the largest shareholder of the iPhone manufacturer Apple, which is dependent on China about 70% its turnover.

Gou has run for the presidency before. He resigned as chairman of Foxconn in 2019, prior to the previous election. At the time, however, he finished second in the KMT presidential primary.

The billionaire businessman declined to run as an independent candidate at the time, and the party eventually lost to the DPP and Tsai.

Cross-strait relations

Gou supports closer ties with Beijing. In an opinion piece written for The Washington Post In July, he called for the resumption of talks between Beijing and Taipei under the motto “One China,” which says there is only one country that covers both mainland China and Taiwan — though the two sides disagree on exactly what that is means.

Gou is “less hostile” to Beijing than the DPP, “particularly because his company Hon Hai is one of the largest employers in mainland China,” says Hilton Yip, a Taiwan-based journalist and news analyst. “It is not surprising that he has said he will try to rebuild relations with China, which deteriorated significantly during Tsai Ing-wen’s tenure,” he continues.

Beijing accuses the DPP of striving for formal independence, a red line. Mainland China has imposed economic and diplomatic sanctions on the self-governing island and has held military exercises near it.

The DPP argues that this is already the case has the right Maintaining independent relations with other governments, however, has not yet made an official declaration of independence.

The US officially recognizes Beijing’s position on Taiwan, but does not “endorse” it and does not recognize the island as a separate state.

Nonetheless, Washington maintains close economic and political ties with Taipei, including arms sales. US politicians like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have done so also travelled to Taiwan. Beijing, in turn, has criticized any US involvement with Taiwan as “meddling” in what it calls its internal affairs.

A divided opposition

The DPP and its candidate, Vice President Lai Ching-te, are likely to face difficult elections next year. The party badly cut off in last November’s local elections after criticizing its domestic policies, including its handling of COVID-19.

Yet if Gou becomes a candidate, he might help in the end the DPP. Should Gou succeed in becoming the official candidate, “it will divide the opposition, which would have three major non-DPP candidates,” says Yip. Current surveys are based on the DPP on the first placeahead of Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party and Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang.

During his campaign announcement, Gou called on the three opposition candidates to unite behind a single campaign to overthrow the DPP. “The most important question is whether the opposition really wants to win. If we do that, we have to unite,” he said said on Monday.

“I’m not sure [Beijing] I would be happy if the opposition were divided even further, which would help the DPP,” says Yip.

Foxconn’s large presence in mainland China has prompted fears that Beijing could threaten the company to influence Gou’s decisions.

The company did not immediately respond Assets‘s request for comment, but noted in a statement Bloomberg that “Gou passed the baton four years ago and no longer participates in the day-to-day management of the company.”

In his announcement, the Foxconn founder indicated that Beijing would not threaten the company it would discourage discourage foreign investors from investing in China.

But Gou said he was ready to take the hit from China. “If the Chinese communist regime threatens to confiscate the company’s property in China, I will say, ‘Yes!’ Please do it!’,” he said. “I can sacrifice my personal fortune in exchange for peace for Taiwan.”