Two months ago, Terry Gou was talking big. Announcing his intention to run for president in his native Taiwan, Foxconn’s billionaire founder argued that China – home to most of the factories where the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer churns out Apple’s iPhones – could not touch him or his company.

“If the Chinese Communist party regime were to say, ‘If you don’t listen to me, I’ll confiscate your assets from Foxconn’, I would say: ‘Yes, please do it!’ I cannot follow their orders, I won’t be threatened,” Gou said, insisting his business interests would not make him beholden to China.

Financial Times