Populist mayor aims to unseat president after beating Foxconn chief Terry Gou to become KMT candidate

Asia Times
Date: July 15, 2019
By: Amber Wang

A populist mayor who favors closer ties with Beijing was named on Monday as the presidential candidate for Taiwan’s main opposition party as it looks to unseat President Tsai Ing-wen in upcoming elections.

Han Kuo-yu won the primary for the Kuomintang (KMT), comfortably seeing off a challenge from Taiwan’s richest man, billionaire Foxconn founder Terry Gou.

His victory sets up an unpredictable clash as Taiwan goes to the polls in January in a contest that will be dominated by relations with China.

Han, 62, has enjoyed a stunning rise in the last two years, journeying from relative obscurity to become his party’s presidential candidate in a phenomenon that has been dubbed the “Han tide”.
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