The Taipei mayoral race has kicked off early, with DPP candidate Puma Shen firing back forcefully at attacks from the KMT camp, leaving voters watching an increasingly heated war of words.

• The Taipei Research, Development and Evaluation Commission accused Shen Po-yang of dodging the tainted cooking oil case, Neihu flooding and energy issues; he retorted that Chiang Wan-an is the sitting mayor, and if everything is going to be asked of him, he might as well be mayor himself.
• On the tainted oil case, he said inspection responsibility lies with local government, that the central government has already asked the Food and Drug Administration to explain, and he called for directly linking up the interfaces between testing agencies.
• On flood prevention in Neihu, he stressed that he has visited the site many times, and that the key is using an AI system to deliver flooding information to residents in real time.
• On energy, he pointed out that the power grid and substation plan for the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park was his own proposal first, and that the city government dragged its feet for a year before changing course and accepting it.
• His plan for Nangang is to link up existing highlights such as the Taipei Music Center and the exhibition hall, add green space connecting to the Nangang mountain range, and focus on urban renewal.

Outlook: With less than four months to go before the year-end local elections, the exchanges between the Shen Po-yang and Chiang Wan-an camps will only grow more intense, as grassroots campaigning and policy clashes heat up in tandem.