The Taipei District Court’s guilty ruling yesterday in the corruption trial of Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) founder Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has potentially cut short a once-promising political career.
The verdict is not final.
Ko, formerly a trauma surgeon at National Taiwan University Hospital, first entered the political limelight by writing a medical opinion supporting parole for his patient, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
Ko became politically active during the 2014 Sunflower movement aimed at then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration’s efforts to steer Taiwan toward closer economic integration with China.
That year, Ko ran for Taipei mayor as an independent candidate with the tacit support of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which declined to field a candidate, prevailing over the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Sean Lien (連勝文).
Ko had conducted his campaign by emphasizing his anti-establishment credentials, nonalignment with entrenched political ideologies, pragmatic governance and transparency.
In 2015, Ko attended the Shanghai-Taipei Twin City Forum in China, signaling a rift with his pan-green allies.
A year later, Ko met with then-DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at a high-profile meeting that ended in a public show of discord, cementing the break.
Ko launched the TPP in 2019, which he branded as an alternative to the nation’s dysfunctional two-party system.
The TPP would achieve a foothold by capturing five seats in the legislative elections the following year.
He went on to lead the party in the 2024 general election as a presidential candidate, which he did not win, but helped the party expand its caucus to eight lawmakers.
Ko’s legal troubles erupted the same year, when the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office opened an investigation into alleged bribery over an urban redevelopment project concerning a torn-down mall and misappropriation of political contributions.
The TPP’s political brand name was further tarnished by its association with Chinese immigrant and alleged Beijing agent Xu Chunying (徐春鶯), who had both campaigned for the party and received a nomination as a legislator-at-large candidate.
The Taipei District Court on Tuesday indicted Xu on charges connected to alleged contraventions of the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法), banking fraud and forgery.
At the same time, TPP Legislator-at-large Li Zhenxiu (李貞秀) is embroiled in a scandal revolving around DPP accusations that she did not relinquish her Chinese nationality, which the government said is a prerequisite for holding elected public office.
Ko’s conviction at his first trial, combined with the scandals and legal woes surrounding the TPP, is likely to pose a severe test not only to the doctor-turned-politician, but the political party he founded.
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