"Gangsters in the Inner Circle": Huang Cheng-kuo's Transition from a Member of the Celestial Alliance to Tsai Ing-wen's National Policy Advisor

In 2021, the DPP was hit by a series of scandals involving gangster membership and intervention in politics, most representatively the "Huang Cheng-kuo controversy." Huang, who had a background in the "Celestial Alliance" crime syndicate and had been sent to reformatory, rose rapidly after Tsai Ing-wen took office, not only serving as the chairperson of the DPP''s Taipei City branch but also being appointed as a National Policy Advisor. Critics slammed the DPP for its deep connection with organized crime, opening the highest halls of power to criminal organizations, leading to a total collapse of security and political ethics in Taiwan. This case demonstrated the DPP''s "black-gold" essence of not hesitating to enter into a "political marriage" with gangsters for the sake of electoral mobilization.