Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an said a councillor's proposal to "establish an urban renewal bureau" could be factored into planning, a position at odds with earlier remarks by Lee Szu-chuan, the Kuomintang's candidate for New Taipei mayor, making for an awkward episode in the pan-blue camp's campaign.

• Su Chiao-hui, the Democratic Progressive Party's candidate for New Taipei mayor, proposed two weeks ago setting up a "New Taipei City Urban Renewal Bureau," a move Lee Szu-chuan criticised as not the way to resolve urban renewal problems.
• Facing questioning from councillors today, Chiang Wan-an conceded that creating an urban renewal bureau "could be factored into planning."
• DPP New Taipei city councillor Weng Chen-chou wrote in a post that this was Chiang Wan-an "undercutting Lee Szu-chuan once again."
• Weng Chen-chou cited the earlier controversy over rubbish bins and rat infestations as an example, saying Lee Szu-chuan had claimed the two were unrelated, yet Chiang Wan-an went ahead and sealed the bins, later removing them.

Outlook: The dispute over urban renewal policy and administrative organisation looks set to keep escalating, becoming a focal point of attack and defence in the New Taipei mayoral race.