The campaign for Taichung mayor has begun, with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Kuomintang (KMT) candidates trading fire from a distance over "who is really promoting the drone industry." This is local political manoeuvring, and its impact on advancing Taichung's unmanned-vehicle cluster remains to be seen.

• DPP candidate Ho Hsin-chun criticised her KMT rival Chiang Chi-chen for offering only "verbal support" to drones, with no concrete action.
• Ho said the central government's 2026 general budget was the latest ever to be passed, that the drone budget got through only after industry operators pleaded hard for it, and that the special act on unmanned vehicles is still stuck in the Legislative Yuan.
• She accused KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi of being absent from five inter-party negotiations and of angering Legislative Yuan Speaker Han Kuo-yu, questioning who exactly is holding up the budget.
• Chiang Chi-chen's office responded that his position in support of developing Taichung's unmanned-vehicle industry is clear, that Taichung should be the leader for all of Taiwan, and that it depends on whether the DPP government can fairly allocate the budget to central Taiwan.
• Taiwan People's Party's Ko Wen-je said the budget being delayed for so long is the responsibility of those in power, and that the opposition's job is precisely to oversee the governing party.

Outlook: The campaign will continue with each side assigning blame over the drone industry and the delayed general budget, and common ground is unlikely in the short term.