The question being asked about Foxconn founder Terry Gou pulling out of Taiwan’s presidential election is: Was China behind it?

Gou was defeated in the primary to be the candidate of the pro-China Kuomintang (KMT) party.

He then said he might run as an independent. On Wednesday, he said he wouldn’t.

The speculation in Taiwan is that Beijing calculated that Gou might split the pro-China vote in the general election giving the victory to Taiwan’s China-sceptic incumbent president Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

With Foxconn employing over a million people in factories in China, Gou might well have bowed to Beijing’s wishes.

The troubles in Hong Kong have not helped Beijing’s popularity among the Taiwanese, and the China government doesn’t want to increase electoral support for Tsai.

With the withdrawal of Gou, the presidential election looks like being between  the DPP’s Tsai and the KMT’s Han Kuo-you, the Mayor of Kaohsiung.