Kao remained a public servant for the rest of his life, as minister without portfolio until 1989, then presidential adviser until his death.

[3] Kao won his first term as mayor of Taipei in 1954, with the support of the China Democratic Socialist Party.

[5] Kao ended his 1960 bid for the Taipei mayoralty when the Kuomintang barred him from asking citizens to watch the polling areas in an attempt to combat electoral fraud.

[6] Because the Kuomintang also lost the mayoralties of Tainan and Keelung in 1963, Chiang Kai-shek made Taipei a special municipality in 1967.

[7] Upon ending his independent candidacy for president in January 1996,[8][9] Kao returned to an advisory role and served until his death in 2005.