TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Kuomintang (KMT) presidential hopeful and Foxconn founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) delivered a speech on Taiwan’s frontline island of Kinmen Saturday (May 13), dismissing the issue of Taiwan independence, and advocating for Kinmen to be established as a base for cross-strait negotiations.

"There is no issue of Taiwan independence. Without the provocation of Taiwan independence, the fighter jets and the gunboats from across the strait should stay away from threatening Taiwan," Gou said.

Gou, who is polling in second place for the KMT candidacy, said that if elected as Taiwan’s president he will establish Kinmen as a base for cross-strait negotiations. "Here in Kinmen, (the) Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China will begin an earnest round of negotiations for peace without foreign intervention,” he said.

Gou said the permanent negotiation base will be cross-party, cross-ethnic, and cross-generational, so as to to reopen and restart the peace negotiations between both sides.

Gou said the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) attempts to normalize the idea that there are two countries on each side of the strait conflicts with the "1992 consensus."

“The DPP replaced the common consensus of 'One China with Respective Interpretations' with their own concepts of 'Two Chinas', 'One China, One Taiwan', and 'One Country on Each Side,'" Gou said. "In the process to create and promote these new concepts, (the) DPP succeeded in promoting hatred in Taiwan and creating opposition among ethnic groups to result in a divisive Taiwan.”

Gou spoke at a memorial to commemorate the KMT’s victory over the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Battle of Kinmen in 1949, an event that is credited for having prevented the CCP from completely destroying the KMT forces and taking Taiwan. Surrounded by multiple national flags, Gou's speech drew heavily on the history of both Taiwan and Kinmen.

No one knows the horrors of war like Kinmen, he said, adding that without Kinmen's historical sacrifices, there would be no Republic of China and no Taiwan.

Gou was accompanied in Kinmen by the fist fighting local legislator Chen Yu-chen (陳玉珍), who supports Gou’s presidential bid over other potential KMT candidates. In his speech, Gou said if elected he will establish a memorial to commemorate the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis, an event for which Chen has also called for greater recognition.

Taiwan’s presidential election will be held in January 2024. Taiwan Vice President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) was announced as the DPP’s candidate on April 12, and the KMT said it will announce its pick on May 17.

Poll data released on April 18 showed Gou’s support at 26%, while the frontrunners for the presidency are the DPP’s Lai with 33.4% and New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), widely expected to be the KMT nominee, with 29.7% of the vote.

Terry Gou's full Kinmen speech.