Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Ho Min-hao (
Ho beat DPP Legislator Wang Shih-hsun (王世勛) in an opinion poll held to determine the best candidate to represent the pan-green camp in Taichung's 3rd district.
Ho told the Central News Agency that the TSU and DPP had been unable to negotiate a single candidate for the district, adding that he would therefore quit the TSU and represent the DPP in the election.
The TSU had urged the DPP to make the decision based on the results of the opinion poll.
Ho said he that he was confident he would win the seat for the DPP.
He said that he had tried to contact former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), the TSU's spiritual leader, to inform Lee of his decision.
Meanwhile, TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (
Regarding district legislators, Huang said the party "has a strategy," but declined to go into detail.
Ho had been mulling a party switch, announcing last week that he would decide whether to join the DPP before today.
Huang had said that he believed Ho would be a wise choice for the pan-green camp, in spite of pressure from the DPP to have a DPP candidate.
President Chen Shui-bian (
Ho is the fifth of the TSU's 12 incumbent legislators to quit the party. The other four are Liao Pen-yen (
TSU legislators Tseng Tsahn-deng (
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
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