The poll in January is widely being viewed as a referendum on President Tsai Ing-wen's handling of self-ruled Taiwan's relations with China, which have soured during her tenure.
Tsai does not accept China's claim that Taiwan is its territory, and during her two terms Beijing has ramped up military and diplomatic pressure on the island.
In contrast, the Kuomintang (KMT) traditionally favours warmer ties with China.
Hou said during a KMT party meeting on Wednesday that "safeguarding" Taiwan and bringing prosperity would be his main aims if elected.
"At the moment, our country faces the risk of war under the international circumstances. Domestically, we are fighting against each other while our young people can't see a future," the 65-year-old said.
"We need radical change. We need a change of government... Taiwan is our home. Everyone should stand united," he added.
A former police chief, Hou entered politics in 2010 when he was appointed by then New Taipei City mayor and current KMT chairman Eric Chu as his deputy, a position he held for eight years.
He became mayor of New Taipei City -- Taiwan's biggest constituency with around four million residents -- in 2018 local elections, and was re-elected last year.
During a recent city council session, when asked to clarify his position on China, Hou said he opposed Taiwan independence as well as the "one country, two systems" arrangement under which Hong Kong is governed as part of China.
Beijing has proposed the arrangement for Taiwan but a majority of Taiwanese people have rejected the model, especially after China crushed political freedoms in Hong Kong despite promising a degree of autonomy to the city.
The KMT chose Hou over tech giant Foxconn's billionaire founder Terry Gou, who congratulated the New Taipei City mayor on his nomination Wednesday.
Hou will face off against Taiwan's Vice President William Lai, 63, who has been more outspoken about independence than Tsai.
In January Lai said he considers Taiwan to already be a "sovereign country", adding that there is "no need to declare independence again".
Beijing has said any move by Taiwan towards a formal declaration would prompt a military response.
Ex-PM Truss urges UK to get tough with China on Taiwan
Taipei (AFP) May 17, 2023 -
Britain's former prime minister Liz Truss on Wednesday urged her successor Rishi Sunak to get tough with China on Taiwan, describing the democratic island as "an enduring rebuke to totalitarianism".
China considers self-ruled Taiwan to be its territory, to be taken one day by force if necessary, and strongly opposes any formal engagement with the island, including by high-profile foreign political figures.
Truss, who is on a five-day visit to Taiwan, accused Sunak and other Western governments of "trying to cling on to the idea that we can cooperate with China on issues like climate change, as if there is nothing wrong".
"But without freedom and democracy, there is nothing else. We know what happens to the environment or world health under totalitarian regimes that don't tell the truth," she said.
"You can't believe a word they (China) say."
Truss also called on Sunak to make good on his pledge during the Conservative leadership campaign last year to designate China a strategic "threat", and went on to say the West could not avoid another "Cold War" with Beijing.
It is "absolutely clear" that Chinese President Xi Jinping "has ambitions to take Taiwan", she added at a press conference later.
"We don't know exactly when that could take place and we don't know how... All we can do is make sure Taiwan is as protected as possible."
Sunak has pushed back on the tough rhetoric against China that Truss deployed before and during her 49-day tenure at 10 Downing Street last year.
She was ousted after her radical economic policies crashed financial markets.
Since then, Truss -- who is still a sitting MP -- has been trying to rebuild her profile with a series of speeches overseas, including in Tokyo, Washington and Copenhagen.
- 'Instagram diplomacy' -
The Chinese government slammed Truss as a "persistently irresponsible MP... causing her country another type of harm".
"A has-been UK politician is using the Taiwan issue in an attempt to seek publicity, which is done for their own political self-interest," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said during a Wednesday press briefing.
The former leader has also faced accusations back home that she is indulging in irresponsible sabre-rattling in a bid to maintain her political relevance.
"The (Taiwan) trip is performative, not substantive," House of Commons foreign relations committee chair Alicia Kearns told The Guardian newspaper last week.
"It is the worst kind of example of Instagram diplomacy," the Conservative said, recalling previous criticism of Truss's tireless self-promotion on social media.
Kearns added the trip was likely to deepen problems for Taiwan.
Truss defended herself Wednesday by saying she was invited by Taipei, which was "best placed to understand what will help Taiwan's course".
She added: "I think that's a very dangerous idea that we should allow a totalitarian regime to dictate who goes where in the world."
Beijing has in recent years stepped up air and sea incursions around Taiwan, whose President Tsai Ing-wen has refused to accept that the island is a part of China.
After a visit to Taiwan by then-speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, China launched massive military drills around the island.
There were more drills this year following a meeting in the United States between Tsai and Pelosi's successor.
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