Terry Gou, a 72-year-old billionaire running for president of Taiwan, has proposed a unique solution to solve the country’s declining birthrate: reward pregnancy with free pet animals.
Taiwan has one of the lowest birthrates in the world with a current population that’s aging rapidly, The Guardian reported Tuesday. On the flip side, pet adoptions have skyrocketed in the country, according to the outlet.
“Give birth to a child and I will let you raise one more pet,” the billionaire founder of key Apple supplier Foxconn announced Friday in Taipei, The Guardian reported via a translation from Formosa TV. “A cat, a dog. Give birth to two, and I will let you adopt two more.”
“If there is no birthrate in the future, who will take care of our furry friends?” he later told reporters, according to The Guardian. “So I have put these two issues together. You can’t expect me, one person, to propose a complete policy for every little matter. Adding and multiplying love, that’s my goal.” (RELATED: GOP Presidential Candidate Says US Commitment To Taiwan ‘Will Change’ Once We No Longer Need Their Semiconductors)
Gou initially tried and failed to win the nomination for Taiwan’s main opposition party, the KMT, in 2019, according to Reuters. He threw his hat in the ring once more earlier in 2023, but lost the KMT nomination to New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih. Gou announced in late August that he would be running as an independent candidate, The Guardian reported.
He must now gather 290,000 signatures to secure his nomination. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s two-term tenure is slated to end when he steps down in January.