Editing Li Ao (section)

==Political career==
Li participated in Taiwan's [[2000 ROC presidential election|presidential election in 2000]] as a candidate for the [[New Party (Republic of China)|New Party]]. Li usually played the role of a political gadfly, and his campaign was largely symbolic. He took the election as an opportunity to "educate" the people of Taiwan. Both Li<ref>{{Cite news| pages = 2| last = Prelypchan| first = Erin| title = Li Ao backs Soong, but Hsu hangs on| access-date = 2024-06-18| date = 2000-03-12| url = https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/local/archives/2000/03/12/0000027539}}</ref> and his party{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} publicly encouraged people to vote for [[James Soong]]. During the presidential debates, Li even stated that he was not planning to vote for himself and that people should vote for Soong.

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|-
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan=7 | [[2000 Republic of China presidential election|2000 Republic of China Presidential Election]] Result
|-
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center rowspan= 2 colspan=2 | Political affiliation
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan=2 | Candidate
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan=3 | Votes
|- bgcolor=#E9E9E9
|align="center"|[[President of the Republic of China|President]]
|align="center"|[[Vice President of the Republic of China|Vice President]]
|align="center"|Total votes
|align="center" colspan=2|Percentage
|-
|bgcolor="#1B9431"|
|align=left  |[[Image:Green Island with White Cross.svg|25px]] [[Democratic Progressive Party]]
|align="left"|[[Chen Shui-bian]]
|align="left"|[[Annette Lu]]
|align="left"|'''4,977,737'''
|align="left"|'''39.3%'''
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|-
|bgcolor="#000000"|
|align="left"|[[Independent politician|Independent]]
|align="left"|[[James Soong]]
|align="left"|[[Chang Chau-hsiung]]
|align="left"|4,664,932
|align="left"|36.8%
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|-
|bgcolor="#000099"|
|align="left"|[[File:Emblem of the Kuomintang.svg|25px]] [[Kuomintang]]
|align="left"|[[Lien Chan]]
|align="left"|[[Vincent Siew]]
|align="left"|2,925,513
|align="left"|23.1%
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|bgcolor="#000000"|
|align="left"|[[Independent politician|Independent]]
|align="left"|[[Hsu Hsin-liang]]
|align="left"|[[Josephine Chu]]
|align="left"|79,429 
|align="left"|0.63%
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|bgcolor="#FFFF00"|
|align="left"|[[New Party (Republic of China)|New Party]]
|align="left"|Li Ao
|align="left"|[[Elmer Fung]]
|align="left"|16,782
|align="left"|0.13%
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|- bgcolor=CCCCCC
| colspan="4" align="right" | Total || align="left" | 12,786,671 || align="left" | 82.69% voter turnout ||rowspan=3| 
|- bgcolor=CCCCCC
| colspan="4" align="right" | Valid votes || colspan="2" align="left" | 12,664,393
|- bgcolor=CCCCCC
| colspan="4" align="right" | Invalid votes || colspan="2" align="left" | 122,278
|}

Since the 2000 presidential election, Li had bitterly spoken out against pro-independence Nobel laureate [[Yuan T. Lee]], who publicly supported [[Chen Shui-bian]]. He also accused former President [[Lee Teng-hui]] of corruption. In October 2004, Li ran in the [[2004 ROC legislative election|December 11 legislative election]] as a non-partisan candidate of the South [[Taipei]] constituency, and was subsequently elected to be the last winning place. He took office as an independent legislator on 1 February 2005.

In February 2005, Li held a press conference, accusing the PFP leader, [[James Soong]] of having changed his opposition towards military weapons purchase from the United States under the influence of people of pro-American inclination, people with [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] backgrounds and arms traders who would receive kick-backs. Li threatened Soong that he would reveal the names of the people with CIA backgrounds, who were influencing Soong, to the general public unless Soong reverted to his previous opposition position.<ref>{{cite web|author1=中廣新聞網|title=李敖警告宋楚瑜軍購別鬆手 否則爆出身邊CIA臥底|url=http://news.yam.com/bcc/politics/200502/20050224323150.html|website=news.yam.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050506043707/http://news.yam.com/bcc/politics/200502/20050224323150.html|archive-date=May 6, 2005|date=February 24, 2005}}</ref> PFP legislators dismissed the accusation and responded that Li Ao should reveal his evidence to support his story.<ref>{{cite web|author1=中廣新聞網|title=親民黨立委：李敖有證據就直接講|url=http://news.yam.com/bcc/politics/200502/20050224324480.html|website=news.yam.com|date=February 24, 2005}}</ref>

Later that year, in June, Li claimed to the Taiwanese press that he had exclusive information from the CIA concerning the [[3-19 shooting incident]].{{citation needed|date=October 2012}} He alleged that the real motive of the killer was to assassinate the Vice-President [[Annette Lu]] in order to garner sympathy votes for [[Chen Shui-bian]], and that the killer had been condoned by the governing party for ulterior political reasons.  After flashing several allegedly CIA-endorsed documents to reporters, he mailed them to Annette Lu, claiming that she needed to know the truth about the assassination attempt to the full extent.{{citation needed|date=October 2012}}

On 19 September 2005, Li returned to Mainland China for the first time in 56 years.{{citation needed|date=October 2012}} He was invited to give speeches at [[Peking University]], [[Tsinghua University]] and [[Fudan University]] where he was warmly received, and the trip was claimed to have had significant impact on observers of [[Cross-Strait relations]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/23/international/asia/23china.html?_r=1&oref=slogin China Lectured by Taiwan Ally], New York Times, September 23, 2005</ref><ref>[http://english.sina.com/taiwan_hk/1/2005/0921/46842.html Gadfly Taiwan writer calls for more academic freedom in address to mainland students], Associated Press, September 21, 2005</ref><ref>[http://zonaeuropa.com/20050924_1.htm Li Ao's Speech At Beijing University], English translation</ref>

Li was a candidate for the [[2006 Republic of China municipal elections|2006 Taipei Mayoral election]], and a candidate for the [[2012 Republic of China legislative election|2012 Legislative Yuan elections]], campaigning in Taipei City District 8 under the [[People First Party (Republic of China)|People First Party]] (PFP) banner. Li also satirized Mao Zedong's [[Little Red Book]] in his article.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
|-
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan=7 | [[2006 Republic of China municipal elections|2006 Taipei City Mayoral Election]] Result
|-
!width="20"|No
!width="150"|Candidate
!width="230"|Party
!width="70"|Votes
!width="40"|%
|-
|1
|Li Ao
|[[Independent politician|Independent]]
|7,795
|0.61%
|-
|2
|[[Clara Chou]]{{efn|Despite Chou's expulsion from the [[Taiwan Solidarity Union]] on November 9, 2006, the party could not withdraw their recommendation for Chou under Republic of China's Public Officials Election and Recall Law. She would still contest the elections as a TSU candidate.<ref>{{cite news|title=TSU expels Taipei mayoral candidate|url=http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/2006/11/10/94814/TSU-expels.htm|access-date=January 16, 2015|work=China Post|date=November 10, 2006}}</ref>}}
|[[Taiwan Solidarity Union]]
|3,372
|0.26%
|-
|3
|[[Frank Hsieh]]
| [[Democratic Progressive Party]]
|525,869
|40.89%
|-
|4
|[[James Soong]]{{efn|James Soong was Chairman of the [[People First Party (Republic of China)|People's First Party]] at the time of the elections, but entered the elections as an independent.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Shih|first1=Hsiu-chuan|title=Elections 2006: People First Party chairman announces an end to his career|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2006/12/10/2003339840|access-date=January 16, 2015|work=Taipei Times|date=December 10, 2006}}</ref>}}
|[[Independent politician|Independent]]
|53,281
|4.14%
|-style="background:#ccccff"
|'''5'''
|'''[[Hau Lung-pin]]'''
|[[Kuomintang]]
|'''692,085'''
|'''53.81%'''
|-
|6
|[[Ke Tsi-hai]]
|[[Independent politician|Independent]]
|3,687
|0.29%
|}

On 24 October 2006, Li sprayed [[tear gas]] and wielded a [[Electroshock weapon|stun gun]] during a Legislative Yuan National Defense Committee meeting, forcing several members of the parliament to flee. He was attempting to stop debate on purchasing attack submarines and [[MIM-104 Patriot|Patriot]] anti-aircraft missiles for $16 billion from the U.S.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6081738.stm|title=BBC NEWS - Asia-Pacific - Taiwan MP in 'tear gas' protest|date=24 October 2006 }}</ref> He was also wearing the [[Guy Fawkes mask]] from ''[[V for Vendetta]]''.<ref>[http://news.163.com/06/1024/14/2U74K2Q7000120GU.html News.163.com: Li Ao wears gas mask and sprays tear gas in Legislative Yuan] {{in lang|zh}}</ref>