Foxconn founder Terry Gou qualifies to run for Taiwan president

Mr Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of major Apple supplier Foxconn, has collected three times the number of signatures required to qualify to run in Taiwan’s presidential election, the government said on Tuesday. In a statement, Mr Gou showed gratitude to his backers for their “excited support” and pledged to work more to gain “serenity all over the Taiwan Strait”. Mr Gou declared his bid in August, saying he wished to bring together the opposition and make sure the island did not become “the next Ukraine”. He threw allegations on the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for taking Taiwan to the brink of war by antagonising China, which claims the island as its own territory.