黨外運動
On 20 May 1990, the new president Lee Teng-hui officially assumed the presidency and ordered a special amnesty for all Meilitao Incident prisoners. Shih ripped up his amnesty document and demanded an unconditional release. When President Lee announced the invalidation of the Meilitao Trials, Shih Ming-te finally accepted his release as an innocent person. Upon recovering his freedom, he joined the now legal Democratic Progressive Party, which originated in the Tangwai movement.