Taiwan's Kuomintang has handed down heavy punishments to two young party members who publicly criticised party chair Cheng Li-wun, bringing the party's internal battle over its political line into the open — bad news for a KMT hoping to win over young voters.

• Former spokesperson Hsiao Ching-yen has been suspended from the party for three years, while former deputy director of the youth department Ting Yu has been expelled outright.
• The two were disciplined for repeatedly criticising Cheng Li-wun and the party's cross-strait line in public.
• Commentator Wen Lang-tung argued that by expelling people who criticise the Chinese Communist Party, the KMT is proving that it is an authoritarian party and a junior partner of the CCP.
• Wen said that DPP members criticising their own party chair is entirely commonplace, yet the pan-blue camp has spent years labelling others "green communists" and practitioners of "elected dictatorship".
• The disciplinary action has exposed to full view the discontent within the KMT over Cheng Li-wun's pro-China line.

Outlook: Voices opposing Cheng Li-wun inside the party will not disappear in the short term, and the pan-blue camp's fight over its political line looks set to keep burning.