Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen described the Presidential Office's cancellation of its Mid-Autumn gift box order as "walking out on an order," without mentioning that it was caused by the KMT and TPP cutting and freezing the budget, prompting a strong backlash.

• KMT and TPP lawmakers cut and froze the entirety of the Presidential Office's state affairs fund, resulting in the cancellation of an order for 15,000 Mid-Autumn gift boxes that was to have been placed with 37 sheltered workshops nationwide.
• Those affected are people with disabilities and disadvantaged groups; many workshops had already prepared their raw materials, which they now have no use for.
• In an interview, Lu used the phrase "walked out on an order" six times to describe the Presidential Office, and announced that the city government would "take the order," casting itself as coming to the rescue.
• Online opinion turned against her, with criticism flooding in even beneath posts on pro-KMT media pages, questioning a case of "the thief crying stop thief."
• Others questioned a double standard: Lai Ching-te was told to pay for the mooncakes out of his own pocket, while the Taichung city government is using public funds to take the order.

Outlook: The controversy looks set to keep burning in the run-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the political price of the KMT-TPP budget cuts and freezes will come under even greater scrutiny.