Army reserve General and former vice minister of national defense Hu Chen-pu (胡鎮埔) is slated to announce on Saturday his decision to run in January’s legislative election as an independent, sources said yesterday.
Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德), who no longer has ties to the party, pushed for Hu’s participation in the election, the sources said.
Hu will reportedly run in Bade (八德), Taoyuan County, where he would be pitted against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sun Ta-chien (孫大千). The DPP has not nominated a candidate for the Bade seat and sources say the party will quietly support Hu in the elections.
In the past, most armed forces reserve officers who have served as legislators have held legislator-at-large seats nominated by the KMT. The highest ranking among them was Ku Chung-lien (顧崇廉), a former commander-in-chief of the navy.
Only a handful of reserve officers have competed in legislative elections: army Major-General Chou Shu-fu (周書府) and navy Vice Admiral Hsiao Chu-chiao (蕭楚喬) were elected as members of the legislature; air force -Lieutenant-General Chen Hung-chuan (陳鴻銓) stood for a seat, but was not elected; and air force Major-General Kao Wei-ho (高崴和) was elected to a seat representing an Aboriginal constituency.
Hu would be the first reserve general to ever stand for a legislative election.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
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