Terry Gou, the founder of major Apple supplier Foxconn, has resigned as a company board member, days after announcing his bid to become the next president of Taiwan. Gou, who previously stepped down as Foxconn’s chairman in 2019, stated that he would be running as an independent candidate in the upcoming presidential election. Foxconn released a statement citing ‘personal reasons’ for Gou’s resignation and acknowledged that he had officially handed over leadership of the group to a professional manager four years ago. Gou’s campaign team declined to comment on the resignation.

Gou’s potential conflict of interest due to his major shareholder status in Foxconn, which has significant investments in China, has been a topic of concern. In response, Gou stated that he is willing to ‘sacrifice’ his personal assets in China in the event of a Chinese attack. He emphasized that he has never been under the control of the People’s Republic of China and does not follow their instructions.

Gou is the fourth candidate to enter the presidential race, but his initial poll numbers reportedly placed him behind the front-runner, William Lai of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) who currently serves as vice president. Gou has accused the DPP of provoking war with China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, and criticized their antagonistic approach towards Beijing. While the DPP-led government and Lai have expressed a desire for talks with China, their attempts have been rebuffed due to Beijing’s perception of them as separatists. Gou has been attempting to unite the opposition against the DPP this week, but no agreements have been reached thus far. The other candidates in the race are Taiwan People’s Party’s former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je and Taiwan’s main opposition party Kuomintang’s Hou Yu-ih, who traditionally favor close ties with Beijing.