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STORY: Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of major Apple supplier Foxconn, announced on Monday (August 28) a bid to be Taiwan's president in January elections

He said he wanted to unite the opposition and ensure the island did not become "the next Ukraine."

Gou is the fourth person to throw his hat in the ring, but his poll numbers before his announcement put him well behind the front-runner, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's William Lai, who is currently vice president.

The 72-year-old stepped down as Foxconn chief in 2019.

He made his first presidential bid that year, but dropped out after he failed to win the nomination for Taiwan's main opposition party.

Earlier this year, Gou made a second bid to be the KMT's candidate for the presidential election, but was not selected by the party.

Gou has spent the past few weeks touring Taiwan and holding campaign-like rallies, fueling speculation he was planning to run as an independent.

Speaking on Sunday in Taipei, he lambasted the DPP and promised peace.

“Taiwan must not become Ukraine and I will not let Taiwan become the next Ukraine. I implore the Taiwanese people to give me four years – I promise that I will bring 50 years of peace to the Taiwan Strait.”

The DPP champions Taiwan's separate identity from China, but the government it leads has repeatedly offered talks with China that have been rebuffed.

Gou's main theme in his pre-campaign events has been that the only way to avoid war with China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, is to get the DPP out of office.

Gou must gather close to 300,000 voter signatures by Nov. 2 to qualify as an independent candidate, according to election regulations.