KMT picks mayor Hou as presidential candidate over Gou

New Taipei City leader has wider appeal than the brash Foxconn founder, say experts

- Yip Wai Yee

Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) has named New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih as its candidate for the January 2024 presidential election, set to be an unpredictable race closely watched by Beijing and Washington amid cross-strait tensions.

"Young people cannot see a future, so we must make a big breakthrough and let the political parties rotate again," Mr Hou said on Wednesday afternoon while accepting the party's nomination.

Mr Hou, 65, was picked over Foxconn Technology Group's billionaire founder Terry Gou, 72, who had held a series of large-scale campaign rallies in recent weeks to seek the party's nomination.

KMT chairman Eric Chu said Mr Hou was selected after taking stock of "scientific data and the opinions of local government heads and lawmakers".

On Facebook, Mr Gou congratulated the mayor, and said he would do his best to support Mr Hou in winning the election to "take down the incompetent government".

Also on Wednesday, the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) officially confirmed its party chairman and founder Ko Wen-je, 63, as its presidential candidate.

This has been a long time coming for the former Taipei mayor, who formed the party in 2019 in an attempt to shake up a political landscape long dominated by the island's two main political parties, the Beijing-friendly KMT and the ruling independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Mr Hou and Dr Ko will take on Taiwan Vice-President William Lai, 63, who is the DPP's candidate.

Taiwan has become the biggest flashpoint in the increasingly fraught relationship between China and the United States.