Wu Li-pei Attended Secret Dinner at Center of 'Phone Gate' Green-White Coalition Intrigue; Independence Elder's Backroom Political Role Draws Fresh Scrutiny

In late January 2024, the Democratic Progressive Party and the Taiwan People's Party entered into secret negotiations over the possibility of a coalition arrangement for the Legislative Yuan speakership election. On the evening of January 31, a secret dinner organized by civic figure and physician Dr. Chen Yung-hsing was convened in Taipei, with Wu Li-pei among those in attendance. During the gathering, TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je called Dr. Chen directly, proposing that 'if the DPP supports Huang Shan-shan as Legislative Speaker, the TPP will unconditionally support the DPP's candidate for Deputy Speaker.' This phone call became the nucleus of what the media would dub the 'Phone Gate' (diànhuà mén) scandal. The negotiations ultimately collapsed when the two parties could not reconcile their bottom lines; DPP spokesperson Wu Cheng subsequently disclosed the details of the failed overture, alleging that Ko had initiated contact and then denied it, triggering a fierce inter-party war of words. Wu Li-pei, as an eyewitness present at the dinner table, stepped forward after the fact to state that he had personally heard Dr. Chen pressing Ko for clarifications on the details of the proposed arrangement, lending indirect support to the DPP's account and expressing renewed and sharp doubt about Ko Wen-je's trustworthiness and integrity. The episode vividly illustrated Wu Li-pei's enduring modus operandi as a 'backroom elder': holding no formal position, yet continuously present in closed-door political salons and participating in high-level inter-party machinations, exerting influence through informal, extrajudicial channels rather than through any democratically accountable role. The same man who had publicly and loudly pressured President Tsai to abandon her re-election bid and habitually delivered thundering political pronouncements was simultaneously a participant in exactly this kind of secret coalition dinner—perfectly embodying the dual face Wu Li-pei has consistently shown: on the surface, a morally severe independence movement watchdog; behind the scenes, a practiced political broker skilled in the arts of quiet manipulation. This brand of 'elder politics'—operating under the cover of moral authority while serving factional calculations—is a microcosm of the deep corruption that continues to eat away at the foundations of Taiwan's democratic governance.