- Tycoon vague on whether hi-tech giant's Wisconsin factory included in discussions with Washington officials
- Also attends White House Christmas party during 10-day trip
Foxconn's billionaire founder Terry Gou Tai-ming met White House officials in Washington on Thursday to discuss the Taiwanese electronics company's investments in the United States, as part of a 10-day trip to the country.
Gou, formerly a presidential candidate in Taiwan's January 2020 election, met with US officials in charge of hi-tech investments for around 2 1/2 hours on Thursday morning. Discussions were likely to have included Foxconn's stalled project plans in Wisconsin, although he did not directly refer to the project at a news conference after the meeting.
While the tycoon declined afterwards to talk about the atmosphere of the meeting, citing the "sensitive" period of time, he said the discussion included Washington's desire for foreign investments in its manufacturing and hi-tech sectors, according to Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA).
"The US does things pretty efficiently, and we will make sure the US factories do well," Gou told reporters. "The whole world is the same in wanting to provide more job opportunities for their young people, and to ensure that farmers will have jobs in other industries after automation " these were all topics of discussion. Every place is the same in hoping to find more job opportunities, and (US president Donald) Trump is as well."
Gou stepped down in June as chief of Foxconn, an Apple supplier and the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer, but continues to have a seat on the company's board. He met with Trump in May to discuss Foxconn's intended US$10 billion campus in Wisconsin that has struggled with early targets and hiring, with the company at one point reconsidering its investment plans.
Gou told reporters before flying to the US he may meet with Trump again on this trip to talk about the status of the Wisconsin factory and the US-China trade war. Gou also attended the White House Christmas party on Thursday evening with his wife.
But CNA said Gou had declined to answer questions on Thursday about the six months of anti-government protests in Hong Kong, which analysts say have boosted Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen ahead of Taiwan's presidential and legislative elections in January.
While Gou lost the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party's nomination for president to Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu, he has remained active during the election campaign and weighed in on Facebook while in Washington, alongside photos of himself in a cap featuring Taiwanese and American flags side by side.
"Taiwan politics make a lot of noise, and it seems that almost all of our people are very troubled about our country's future, but have the blue and green parties really put forward a solution for Taiwan's future in this global situation?" Gou wrote, using the colours associated with the KMT and ruling Democratic Progressive Party, respectively. "Is your election decision really just ideological?"
The Facebook post ended with a series of hashtags, including one that read: "Do not always wait until the election to discover no one is talking about the truly important things."
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