A campaign fight has broken out in Taiwan's Kaohsiung mayor race, with the two front-runners trading accusations over budgets, city funding, and military drones — a negative, combative moment for both sides.

• DPP candidate Lai Jui-lung is attacking his KMT rival, legislator Ko Chih-en, over her stance on a tax-sharing law and the drone budget.
• Lai says Ko called the freeze on the premier's salary illegal, then voted for it anyway — "says one thing, does another."
• He claims a revised law on splitting money between cities leaves Kaohsiung about NT$20 billion a year poorer while Taipei gains around NT$40 billion, and blames Ko's past role at the KMT think tank.
• Ko fired back that she publicly opposed the "capital 3%" idea, that the final law never included it, and that Lai is attacking her over a clause that doesn't exist.
• On drones, Lai wants Ko and the KMT to back a roughly NT$210 billion military drone budget still stuck in the legislature; Ko says he is twisting the review process for political points.

Outlook: Expect more back-and-forth as both camps use the budget and defense fights to score points ahead of the Kaohsiung vote.