Taiwan's parliament speaker Han Kuo-yu and the ruling government are locked in a fight over who is breaking the constitution, and neither side is using the court that could settle it.

• Han accused the Lai government of refusing to carry out laws passed by parliament, saying no ruling power sits above the constitution.
• Premier Cho Jung-tai fired back that refusing to countersign harmful laws is itself a constitutional duty, and one he only uses defensively.
• The opposition KMT and TPP will not take the dispute to the constitutional court, nor will they call a no-confidence vote to force the premier out.
• That reluctance traces back to their own moves: raising the vote threshold for constitutional rulings and twice blocking the president's nominees, leaving the court short-handed for over a year.
• Han's sudden attack follows a bruising fight with his own party's caucus over a central budget that sat stalled for nearly a year, pointing to personal positioning inside a hardening KMT.

Outlook: With no institution willing to arbitrate, the deadlock between parliament and the cabinet looks set to keep escalating.