Blue-green confrontation in Taiwan has escalated once again, as Kuomintang legislator Weng Hsiao-ling insists on cutting and freezing the Presidential Office's budget — bad news for the Presidential Office and its supporters, but a victory in principle for those who favour stricter oversight.

• Weng Hsiao-ling's proposal to cut and freeze President Lai Ching-te's state affairs fund and Premier Cho Jung-tai's salary drew fierce attacks from the green camp, but she has made clear she will not back down.
• She has tied the cut and freeze to a separate matter: the frozen NT$20 million can be released as soon as President Lai promulgates the seven bills passed on third reading by the Legislative Yuan.
• The two sides give conflicting accounts of the negotiation process. Weng Hsiao-ling says the Presidential Office read her proposal for reduced allocations but never replied, while the Presidential Office says it responded the same day and provided written materials.
• Side effects of the budget cuts have already appeared, with sheltered workshops seeing their Mid-Autumn Festival gift box orders cancelled as a result.
• Weng Hsiao-ling denied ever asking the party's central headquarters for receipts from party chair Cheng Li-wun's trips to China and the United States, saying the planned visit to Germany had long since been cancelled.

Outlook: The budget deadlock is unlikely to be resolved in the short term. Unless the Presidential Office promulgates the bills in question, the sparring between the blue and green camps looks set to continue.