Yao Kao-chiao (; born c. 1940) is a Taiwanese lawyer, politician, and former police officer.

Early life and education

Yao was the youngest of five sons, born in the village of Gongyi in

Zhunan Zhunan Township is an urban township in northern Miaoli County, Taiwan. Its city centre forms a continuous urban area with Toufen. Name Literally, ''Zhúnán'' () means "bamboo south" but in this context, ''zhú'' is short for "Hsinchu". T ...

Miaoli County Miaoli is a county (Taiwan), county in western Taiwan. Miaoli is bordered by Hsinchu County and Hsinchu City to the north, Taichung to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the west. Miaoli is Regions of Taiwan, classified as "central Taiwan" by t ...

. He later moved to Taipei. Yao studied law at what became

Central Police University Central Police University (CPU; zh, t=中央警察大學, s=中央警察大学, first=t, poj=Tiong-iong Kéng-chhat Tāi-ha̍k, p=Zhōngyāng Jǐngchá Dàxué) is a public police academy located in Guishan District, Taoyuan City, Taiwan. CPU i ...

and later completed a master's degree in the subject from

Meiji University is a Private university, private research university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Originally founded as Meiji Law School () by three lawyers in 1881, it became a university in April 1920. As of May 2023, Meiji has 32,261 undergradu ...

Career

He served five years as leader of the Kaohsiung City Police Department and four years with the Taipei County Police Department. Between 1995 and 1996, Yao was president of Central Police University. Within the

National Police Agency National Police may refer to the national police forces of several countries: *Afghanistan: Afghan National Police *Haiti: Haitian National Police *Canada: Royal Canadian Mounted Police *Colombia: National Police of Colombia *Cuba: National Revolut ...

, Yao was deputy director-general prior to his appointment as director-general from his post at Central Police University. His tenure as director-general began on 13 June 1996, as he succeeded . During Yao's leadership of the National Police Agency, the agency attempted unsuccessfully to track . Additionally, several violent crimes occurred, among them the assassinations of Liu Pang-yu and

Peng Wan-ru Peng Wan-ru (; 13 July 1949 – 30 November 1996), also spelled Peng Wan-ju, was a feminist Taiwanese politician. The director of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) Women's Affairs Department, Peng advocated for the safety and development ...

, both in November 1996. Soon after, Yao remarked that he would never allow his daughter to take a taxi alone at night. Following the April 1997

murder of Pai Hsiao-yen Pai Hsiao-yen (; 23 June 1980 – 18–20 April 1997) was the only daughter of popular Taiwanese television host and actress Pai Bing-bing and Japanese author Ikki Kajiwara. In April 1997, Pai was kidnapped, held for ransom, and murdered by ...

, Yao stepped down from the National Police Agency in August. In January 2000, Yao was appointed the inaugural minister of the

Coast Guard Administration The Coast Guard Administration of the Ocean Affairs Council (CGA), also operating as the ROC Coast Guard, is charged with maintaining law and order; protecting the resources of the territorial waters of the Republic of China (Taiwan), which surr ...

. In this position, he warned against implementation of the three small links, stating that China's intelligence agents and gangsters might use them to infiltrate Taiwan. Yao drew criticism for missing a meeting of the

Legislative Yuan The Legislative Yuan () is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for four-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a ...

in April 2000, despite the fact that he had applied for leave and had gone to

Kinmen Kinmen, alternatively known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), only east from the city of Xiamen in Fujian, located at the southeastern coast of the People's Republic of China, from wh ...

to discuss borrowing patrol boats from the

Republic of China Armed Forces The Republic of China Armed Forces ( zh, t=中華民國國軍) are the national military forces of the Taiwan, Republic of China (ROC), which is now based primarily in the Taiwan Area but Republic of China (1912–1949), formerly governed Mai ...

. After stepping down from the Coast Guard Administration as the

Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian ( zh, t=陳水扁; born 12 October 1950) is a Taiwanese former politician and lawyer who served as the fifth president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progres ...

presidential administration took office, Yao worked for the National Policy Foundation, a think tank affiliated with the Kuomintang. The party nominated him as a Kaohsiung-based candidate for the Legislative Yuan in 2001, but he was not elected. Instead, Yao took office on 25 October 2001, succeeding on the party list compiled for proportional representation. He was one of three candidates contesting the Kuomintang nomination for the 2002 Kaohsiung mayoral election. The Kuomintang's deliberations with the People First Party took two months, after which was named the

Pan-Blue Coalition The Pan-Blue coalition, Pan-Blue force or Pan-Blue groups is a political coalition in the Republic of China (Taiwan) consisting of the Kuomintang (KMT), People First Party (PFP), New Party (CNP), Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU), and You ...

's joint candidate for Kaohsiung. Days before the election in December 2002, Yao stated that he would support incumbent

Frank Hsieh Frank Hsieh Chang-ting (; born May 18, 1946) is a Taiwanese politician and former defense attorney who served as Ambassador of Taiwan to Japan from 2016 to 2024. A cofounder of the Democratic Progressive Party, he has served on the Taipei City ...

of the

Democratic Progressive Party The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a centre to centre-left Taiwanese nationalist political party in Taiwan. As the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition, one of the two main political camps in Taiwan, the DPP is currently the ...

. The declaration resulted in Yao's expulsion from the Kuomintang shortly after the election took place. In March 2003, after Hsieh began his second mayoral term, he appointed Yao deputy mayor. As deputy mayor, Yao led many cultural events. In October 2004, Yao met

Kim Young-sam Kim Young-sam (, ; 20 December 1927 – 22 November 2015), often referred to by his initials YS, was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the seventh president of South Korea from 1993 to 1998. From 1961, Kim spent almost 30 ye ...

during Kim's fourth visit to Taiwan. During the 2018 local elections, Yao backed the mayoral bids of

Hou You-yi Hou Yu-ih (; born 6 June 1956) is a Taiwanese politician, criminologist, and former police officer. He has been the incumbent mayor of New Taipei since 25 December 2018. Previously, he served as Director-General of the National Police Agency f ...

in New Taipei, and

Han Kuo-yu Han Kuo-yu (Chinese language, Chinese: 韓國瑜, born 17 June 1957), also known as Daniel Han, is a Taiwanese politician and retired Republic of China Army officer who is the current president of the Legislative Yuan. Han graduated from the ...

in Kaohsiung.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yao, Kao-chiao 1940s births Living people Party List Members of the Legislative Yuan Members of the 4th Legislative Yuan Kuomintang Members of the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan Expelled members of the Kuomintang Taiwanese police officers Meiji University alumni Central Police University alumni Deputy mayors of Kaohsiung Academic staff of the Central Police University Taiwanese expatriates in Japan Politicians of the Republic of China on Taiwan from Miaoli County Presidents of universities and colleges in Taiwan