Terry Gou, the founder of major Apple supplier Foxconn, is seeking the presidential nomination for Taiwan's main opposition party for a second time.
He is aiming to be nominated by the Kuomintang, which traditionally favours close ties with China.
Mr Gou says that the only way to avoid war with China was to lessen tensions between Washington and Beijing and get Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party out of office.
Beijing sees Taiwan as a self-ruled breakaway province that will eventually be unified under China's control. However, Taiwan sees itself as distinct from the Chinese mainland, with its own democratically elected leaders.