Prior to serving in the Third Legislative Yuan, Yao hosted a political talk show for the
Public Television Service and was an adjunct instructor at
National Sun Yat-sen University. he remained in office as a political independent. Aside from academia, Yao resumed his media career as a political commentator. and was ranked second on the Home Party party list for the January 2008 legislative elections, but was not elected to the Legislative Yuan. He was also on the board of the Congress Watch Foundation. He later became chairman of the Congress Watch Foundation. Yao and former legislative colleague led a commemoration of the
1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre held at
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in June 2009. Yao was a founding board member of the Thinking Taiwan Foundation, established by
Tsai Ing-wen in 2012. Independent mayoral candidate
Ko Wen-je offered Yao the position of campaign director before the 2014 Taipei mayoral election, which Yao accepted. In his role as campaign manager, Yao filed a lawsuit against
Luo Shu-lei for defamation, as Lo had claimed that Ko was involved in corruption, tax evasion, and money laundering while working as a physician at
National Taiwan University Hospital. Ko's campaign later alleged that opposing candidate
Sean Lien's campaign had wiretapped Ko's campaign office. In response, Lien's campaign manager
Alex Tsai filed a lawsuit against Yao and other members of Ko's campaign staff. After Ko won the Taipei mayoralty, Yao again returned to political commentary. Yao later appeared alongside Ko in a February 2015 rally organized to support . Prior to the 2018 Taipei City Council election, Yao opined that there were many swing voters in Taipei, negating the city as a
Kuomintang stronghold. Yao Li-ming split with Ko, and offered his support and services as a campaign manager to
Pasuya Yao instead. During the
2024 Taiwanese presidential election cycle, Yao worked for
William Lai's campaign.
Unsuccessful Judicial Yuan appointment In August 2024, Lai appointed Yao
Vice President of the Judicial Yuan. However, legislative confirmation hearings for seven Judicial Yuan positions were delayed. Hearings eventually began on 2 December, but left the Judicial Yuan with the lowest number of justices since the introduction of judicial interpretation in 1947. The Legislative Yuan voted to reject Yao's nomination, and that of six others to the Judicial Yuan, on 24 December 2024. Days before deciding on Lai's nominees, legislators had voted to require the Judicial Yuan have ten active judges before hearing a case. ==References==