Foxconn: Taiwan-based iPhone-maker investigated by China

> Foxconn's founder Terry Gou is running as an independent candidate in Taiwan's presidential election that is due to take place in January.

For those following the Taiwan election, this explains a lot. China wants the Taiwanese ruling party, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), to lose, and it wants the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) to win. But Terry Gou could not get the nomination to run for KMT, so he ran as an independent candidate. This makes KMT and related opposition even weaker against DPP in the coming election.

Hence the tax inspections at Foxconn, which is owned by Terry Gou. This might deter Terry Gou from running in the election.

But the flip side is that the Chinese economy desperately needs foreign investments, so punishing Foxconn may scare away foreign investments and hurt China even further.