At 7:30 p.m. on April 7, the 123st “Cross-Strait Talk” (General 199th), hosted by China Cross-Strait Academy (Hong Kong) and Xiamen Qidataixiang Entrepreneurship Service Co., Ltd., was successfully held at the Tencent Conference with the theme of “How do you view Terry Gou's participation in the 2024 election?”.

Four years ago, during the Nationalist Party's primary election debate for leaders in Taiwan, while Terry Gou was passionately expressing his political views, he suddenly disappeared from television and millions of viewers looked at each other, unaware of what had happened. Three seconds later, Gou was back in front of the screen. The puppet on his left hand was Su Huan Jen, came specifically to platform for him. Gou himself metaphorically said that he wants to be a Su Huan Jen and gather heroes from all walks of life to flip the Taiwan economy. How could Gou crouch down and pick up the puppet during the TV political meeting where every second counts, causing the broadcaster and everyone in front of the TV to suddenly feel that something was happening at the last moment? The staff of the Gou camp definitely wanted to focus on young voters, which is why they came up with this move. Now that Gou apologizes to the Kuomintang for the primary election four years ago and is willing to fight for the next Democratic Progressive Party, so how do you view Terry Gou's participation in the 2024 election? In this “Cross-Strait Talk”, China Cross-Strait Academy (Hong Kong) specially invited experts and scholars from both sides of the strait, including Chiu Yi, three consecutive terms of Taiwan's "legislator" and Central Committee Member of the Kuomintang, to address the issue of “How do you view Terry Gou's participation in the 2024 election?” The focus is on exploring the person and actions of Terry Gou, his transformation and calculations from 2020 to 2024, whether Gou can truly obey the Kuomintang's primary election, unite the non green camp to jointly remove the Democratic Progressive Party, and why he ended up running for leaders in Taiwan with politics in the final battle of Gou's career. Luo Dingjun, Secretary General of China Cross-Strait Academy (Hong Kong), served as the host of the meeting.

Chiu Yi stated that Terry Gou had attempted to launch an offensive against local elections in Taiwan four years ago, and then Chairman of the Kuomintang, Wu Den-yih, also gave Gou an honorary party member certificate in a very polite manner, allowing him to participate in the primary election smoothly. However, in the end, Gou lost to Han Kuo-yu by a large margin. At the same time, during the primary election process, Tsai Eng-meng, the chairman of Want Want China Times Media Group, launched a continuous attack on Terry Gou by his affiliated media, causing difficulties in his candidacy, ultimately leading to Gou being completely angered and leaving the party in frustration.

Terry Gou chose to announce his candidacy this time during his visit to the United States and preparation for his trip to Japan, with the aim of expressing his rich international network and ability to handle international affairs, which is also where Hou You-yi's weakness lies. Gou also specifically mentioned that Taiwan is currently facing a choice between war and peace, and believes that it has a close network and interaction with the mainland, which is the only role that can play in breaking the deadlock between the two sides. This also directly points to Hou You-yi's weak ability to handle cross-strait relations.

The biggest concern among supporters of the Kuomintang is that four years ago, Terry Gou was willing to gamble and refused to accept defeat. He left the party willingly and spoke harshly against the Kuomintang, but did not understand the real reasons behind it. So Gou bowed deeply this time to express his sincere apologies. Knowing that everyone would question whether he would repeat the scene four years ago if he lost again, Gou promised in advance to fully support Hou You-yi if he did not win, in order to let everyone put down their worries and prejudices. However, Gou only regarded Hou You-yi as his only opponent throughout the entire process, which also showed that his approach to politics was not comprehensive enough.

Terry Gou does not have a membership in the Kuomintang party, and being included in the polls is considered a courtesy of Eric Chu. However, media rumors about “Gou-Chu Union” are very unfavorable to Gou. Gou has a huge investment and extensive network in mainland China, which is his advantage, but it will also become the subject of attacks by the Democratic Progressive Party against him. Gou has not experienced any election battles, and it is worrying whether he can withstand the brutal “flaying” test of the election. The conflict between him and Tsai Eng-meng has not been resolved for a long time. Faced with the joint attack of the Democratic Progressive Party's flanking media and the Blue Camp media, it is difficult to cope with the destructive power of trouble arose within his own doors. The local factions of the Kuomintang cannot be underestimated. If Gou cannot meet the exchange conditions proposed by the "faction leader" Fu Jingchi, losing the local factions means losing the polls.

In addition to the wonderful speeches delivered by the guests, the online audience also actively participated in the interactive questions on the topic. The audience asked questions about Terry Gou’s intention to learn from Donald Trump, how Americans view Gou's previous “interview” in the United States, and how cross-strait relations in 2023 will affect the 2024 election. All the guests at the meeting answered these questions, and the discussion was heated, highlighting the great concern on the issue.

Chiu Yi believes that the fighting of Democrats and Republicans in America could not be reconciled. Under such conditions, Trump's so-called romantic affairs and violations of business accounting laws are accompanied by the open and inclusive thinking of the American people, which is in line with Trump's intention to play a role as a tragic figure persecuted by the powerful. The hype results in votes, causing Trump's backward polls to rise instead of falling. Terry Gou's dominant CEO status is different from Trump's political maniac. His visit to the United States as an entrepreneur will be welcomed by every political figure. Next year there will be elections for President, Governors, Senators, and House of Representatives in the United States, and campaigns need money. Terry Gou, who has considerable financial strength, will naturally be welcomed by American politicians.

Hsiao Bi-khim is an important accomplice to the meeting between Tsai Ing-wen and House SpeakerKevin McCarthy. The mainland has also recently announced its sanctions against Hsiao Bi-khim. If further sanctions are announced against the mastermind Tsai Ing-wen in the future, it may cause greater deterrence to Taiwan independence. The future actions of the mainland need to make Taiwan independence feel tangible pain in order to be effective. For Taiwan's enterprises and people, Ma Ying-jeou's visit to the mainland has finally brought the dawn of peace to both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The Taiwanese business community is also looking forward to visiting the mainland to seek business opportunities and promote cross-strait exchanges. However, due to Tsai Ing-wen's bad behavior, those efforts may still end up in vain. The mainland's sanctions on "Taiwan independence" must be thunderous in order to resolutely curb unhealthy tendencies.

At the end of the meeting, Chiu Yi pointed out that from the current latest poll, Terry Gou and Hou You-yi are basically on a par. Gou's comparative advantage is that he can attract some supporters of Ko Wen-je, but there will still be many variables before the KMT's recruitment poll results are released.

Through a brief 1-hour online exchange, more than 300 people from both sides of the strait gathered to discuss the topic of “How do you view Terry Gou's participation in the 2024 election?”, to promote cross-strait exchanges with practical actions, and make contributions to maintaining cross-strait peace and development. As the cross-strait exchange activity synchronized with “Cross-Strait Talk” and “Smart Youth Integration in the Four Places”, the Cross-Strait Youth Perspective Forum, which is launched by China Cross-Strait Academy (Hong Kong), is mainly characterized by gathering authoritative scholars and media worker from Cross-Strait and four places. They will listen to the voice of the Strait, pay attention to the hot spots on both sides of Taiwan Strait, take a global vision, and make a new voice based on both sides of the strait and facing the world.