Former New Party legislator Yao Li-ming (姚立明) has given his nod to independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) invitation to join his election campaign team, saying he hopes the move can help usher in change between the opposing pan-blue and pan-green camps.
Now a political commentator, Yao was once a key figure in the anti-corruption movement, or the so-called “red-shirt army,” in 2006 against then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Yao is also a member of the pan-blue, pro-unification New Party.
Photo: CNA
Ko’s recruitment of Yao is widely viewed as an effort to broaden his electoral base.
Yao said in a statement posted on Facebook early yesterday morning that before making the final decision, he had taken time to ponder and weigh different factors, “but the determining factor is my wish to prove with this move that the deep-seated blue-green opposition can be changed.”
“Ko came from a family that had suffered from the 228 Massacre, while my parents came from China. Ko is green-leaning and I was once a New Party member. He was Chen Shui-bian’s physician and medical adviser, while I was the deputy commander-in-chief of the red-shirt army,” Yao said.
Photo: Tu Chu-min, Taipei Times
Out of all these differences, “there is something that we have in common,” he said.
“Neither of us wants to sit idly while witnessing Taiwan get drained away by the endless vicious blue-green infighting,” he said.
Yao underscored the consensus he had reached with Ko to look beyond political colors and focus on “black and white, and right and wrong,” saying that he expected the year-end mayoral election to be “not only an election, but also a civic movement that stops Taiwanese politics from descending into depravity.”
Former Democratic Progressive Party chairperson Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) lauded Yao’s decision and said on Facebook that Yao’s joining the campaign has made the goal of “transcending blue and green” one step closer.
However, given Yao’s background and past comments, there will no doubt be plenty of noise about his teaming up with Ko, Hsieh said.
Taipei Veterans General Hospital physician Kuo Cheng-deng (郭正典), a supporter of the former president and a member of his all-volunteer medicall team, said that Ko’s move might put off Chen supporters.
Janice Chen (陳昭姿), also a member of the medical team, agreed, saying that it would be even stranger if no one protests against Yao joining Ko’s campaign team.
However, “for the time being, [I] believe that as Yao has accepted Ko’s offer, he is willing to understand and assist what Ko has done so far to rescue the former president, whom Ko believes has suffered from political persecution,” she said.
A report by the Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday said that Yao supports medical parole or home-based medical care for Chen if that is what the hospital suggests.
However, if the hospital says he can be treated behind bars, Chen should remain in prison to serve his sentence, he was reported as saying.
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