
Foxconn's Gou Runs for Taiwan President, Citing Message from Sea Goddess - pseudolus
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-17/foxconn-s-gou-says-sea-goddess-backs-his-run-for-taiwan-leader
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YorkshireSeason
This is part of China's multi-pronged strategy for taking over Taiwan.

One prong is coopting Taiwanese elites, in parts by allowing them to become
very wealthy through China, but only if working in the background for
unification. There is no way Foxconn would have been allowed to operate large
factories in China, if its founder and chairman (Terry Gou) was pro
independence.

~~~
runn1ng
Well, he is campaigning on KMT ticket. KMT is pro-unification.

(Funny considering KMT history, but that's how things played out.)

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dis-sys
> KMT is pro-unification.

No, KMT is not pro-unification. When KMT's ex-chairman Hung Hsiu-chu openly
supported the unification during her presidential campaign in 2015, 91% of KMT
delegates at the party congress voted for replacing her as the KMT
presidential candidate.

KMT's plan is always to keep the status quo and use "unification" as a
bargaining chip to get more $ from the CCP.

~~~
baybal2
KMT's regular party goers and the leadership are not quite the same, as Hong
Xiuzhu found out. KMT has a sizeable, but mute hardliner wing who have no joke
ambitions of taking on CPC again

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_verandaguy
Listen --

Strange women, lying in ponds, distributing presidential candidacy advice is
no basis for a system of government.

On a more serious note, can any readers from ROC or anyone who's more in touch
with the situation there give an insight into whether he stands a chance given
(a) the sea goddess angle, and (b) the apparently PRC-friendly platform?

~~~
EastToWest
I have been following Taiwan politics on and off for the past three months
since Han Kuo-yu came into power.

My observation:

1\. Mazu is big in Taiwan.

2\. DPP didn't have any political achievement in the past three years.

3\. Taiwan has been stagnated for the past two decades due to ideology
politics.

So yes Guo stands a (big?) chance.

~~~
showjackyang
being a Taiwanese, I feel (2) and (3) are actually the perception people have
from exposure to China-originated fake news that intents to obscure current
Taiwanese government's efforts.

No doubt about (1)

~~~
EastToWest
There is no point arguing with me -- I'm pretty sure you watch those politics
talk shows. Branding all of them as "fake news" is not helpful.

If you disagree, you'd better refute me with facts. Tell us what achievements
(political, economical) DPP had in the past three years; show us the growth in
the past two decades.

(I learned the term 22k not too long ago)

~~~
showjackyang
Well... I really don't watch those and clarifying facts is always important.
So here you go:

This is the GDP for Taiwan is recent years, clearly an ascending trend:
[https://tradingeconomics.com/taiwan/gdp](https://tradingeconomics.com/taiwan/gdp)

As for political achievements, things like (1)having a female president
(2)openly supports LGBTQ rights (3)Taiwan's recognition from other like-minded
democratic counties has never been stronger since 1979. If these are not
political achievements, I don't know what is.

As for 22k, low income for young generation is a real (global) issue, which
DPP is fighting hard to solve. Having a pro-China, conservation populist
figure like Gou is only going the worsen the problem of distribution of
wealth.

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prittgluestick
It is depressing to me to think how much of the billions that went to Foxconn,
as subsidies for an ongoingly-debated screen plant in Wisconsin, ultimately
was a source of personal funding for this person's political campaign.

~~~
bilbo0s
Wow.

I could have lived the rest of my life in blissful ignorance of that
possibility. Just gets my blood back up over how much Walker and his cronies
let those guys fleece us for.

Our fault.

We didn't have to elect the guy.

Still... it stings.

~~~
npongratz
> Our fault.

> We didn't have to elect the guy.

Nope, nope, nope... politicians do not get to pass off responsibility for
their actions simply because a plurality of denizens in a geographic area
voted them into office.

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kweinber
Is it just me or are others deeply disturbed by his correspondence with
imaginary sea monsters? I am perplexed by the political appeal of claiming
affiliation with imaginary power-symbols like this.... but it seems to appeal
to voters nearly everywhere even in this day and age.

~~~
tpurves
Is one imaginary god any worse than another? doesn’t sound much different than
what you get from politicians in places like America.

~~~
krapp
>Is one imaginary god any worse than another?

Arguably, possibly, yes?

Once you get past the fictional nature of the deities themselves, what you're
left with is the cult, the physical and financial network of the religion and
its dogma. Those can be inconsequential in the greater political and cultural
narrative, or a powerful force to shape politics and culture to its own ends.

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wtdata
Well, we did have a fair number of leaders in the West claiming they went for
office due to divine inspiration (i.e. George W. Bush), so, it's weird yes,
but just as weird as invoking some monotheistic God.

~~~
kibwen
It would be weird only if they actually believed it, rather than simply saying
such things to pander to their base, as Bush and this guy have done.

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
Doesn't that seem a little like you're imposing your own belief system onto
them? I get it, this guy doesn't seem particularly Christian, but Bush seems
like he could have very well been a fervent believer.

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nnq
...the Overton window is sliding to a place where we'll soon see the POTUS
tweet about his dreams of Cthulhu and it will not even seem weird anymore :P

~~~
kibwen
While such dreams would explain a lot about this presidency, I think you
underestimate the velocity with which the Overton Window has already gleefully
escaped the Earth's atmosphere. Remember the flying water tankers tweet from
two days ago? Nobody else does either.

~~~
nnq
That was funny :) If I were American it would have been less funny though.

There was another more famous leader that thought of himself as talented at
multiple things: like painting... and architecture/construction. And, in a
quirk of fate, being bad at the latter actually saved his life once
(unfortunately).

(...and yeah, I just fulfilled Godwin's law.)

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AFascistWorld
When you are so entrenched in China and so beholden to the party, that even
the mere idea of decamping is dangerous to entertain, how good can he dance
with shackles on?

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mshockwave
FYI for those who didn't familiar with Taiwan culture: Saying that you're
going to do something because some god/goddess tells you to do so in your
dream is a pretty common excuse in ancient Taiwan. So it makes sense as elder
population is probably Gou's target audience.

But of course, it looks F __* __*KING RIDICULOUS to younger generations.

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JudasGoat
Is this part of the "Made in China 2025" initiative?

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return0
citing implies there is some kind of written documented evidence for it.

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chronolitus
your comment implies there isn't.

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moate
Are you trying to claim the Gou has a written message from the sea goddess in
question?

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_underfl0w_
Probably in his own handwriting.

