Taipei's year-end mayoral race is heating up, with the opposition camps trading jabs over how weak the ruling party's candidate really is — bad news for cooperation between the two opposition parties.

• Ko Wen-je said the DPP's pick for Taipei mayor, Puma Shen, is too weak, leaving incumbent Chiang Wan-an under no real pressure.
• KMT city councilor Chan Wei-yuan pushed back, saying Shen comes backed by the DPP and the central government's resources, so the KMT is not taking him lightly.
• The friction started because the KMT's Taipei branch decided Chiang will only appear at joint rallies, not campaign for individual TPP candidates.
• TPP candidates called that arrangement charity, exposing strain in the blue-white opposition alliance.

Outlook: Expect more public sniping between the KMT and TPP as the year-end local elections approach, with cooperation limited to joint events rather than real joint campaigning.