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(Recasts, adds further comment from main opposition party, paragraphs 17-19)
By Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee
TAIPEI, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of major Apple supplier Foxconn, announced on Monday a bid to be Taiwan's president in January elections, saying 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 (DPP) William Lai, who is currently vice president.
Gou, 72, stepped down as Foxconn chief in 2019 and made his first presidential bid that year, but dropped out after he failed to win the nomination for Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang KMT. The KMT traditionally favours close ties with China, whose government claims Taiwan as its own territory.
Earlier this year, Gou made a second bid to be the KMT's candidate for the presidential election, but the party chose instead Hou Yu-ih, the mayor of New Taipei City.
Gou has spent the past few weeks touring Taiwan and holding campaign-like rallies, fuelling speculation he was planning to run as an independent.
Speaking at a Taipei conference centre under two large Taiwanese flags, Gou lambasted the DPP.
"Under the rule of the DPP in the past seven years or so, internationally, they have led Taiwan towards the danger of war. Domestically, their policies are filled with mistakes," Gou said, adding "the era of entrepreneur's rule" has begun.
"Give me four years and I promise that I will bring 50 years of peace to the Taiwan Strait and build the deepest foundation for the mutual trust across the strait," he said in a plea to Taiwan voters.
"Taiwan must not become Ukraine and I will not let Taiwan become the next Ukraine."
The DPP champions Taiwan's separate identity from China, but the government it leads has repeatedly offered talks with China that have been rebuffed.
AVOID WAR
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 election regulations. The Central Election Commission will review the signatures and announce the results by Nov. 14.
Huang Kwei-bo, an associate professor of diplomacy at Taipei's National Chengchi University and a former KMT deputy secretary general, said Gou's candidacy risked further dividing the opposition vote.