Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen described the cancellation of an order for Mid-Autumn Festival gift boxes as the Presidential Office "walking away from" the deal, but her remarks instead drew a wave of criticism online — a negative outcome for both the KMT-TPP camp and her personal image.

• KMT and TPP legislators cut and froze the entirety of the Presidential Office's state affairs fund, forcing the office to cancel an order of 15,000 Mid-Autumn gift boxes it had originally placed with 37 sheltered workshops nationwide.
• Those affected are groups for people with physical and mental disabilities, along with sheltered workshops, some of which had already prepared raw materials but now cannot spend the money.
• In an interview, Lu said six times that the Presidential Office had "walked away from the order," and announced that the Taichung City Government would "take over the order," making no mention of the fact that the funding had been cut by her own party's caucus.
• Internet users and youth groups countered that this amounted to "setting a fire and then coming back as the good guy," questioning why Lai Ching-te cannot use the state affairs fund to buy mooncakes while the city government can use taxpayers' money to do so.
• Even the comment sections of pro-KMT media fan pages were overwhelmingly critical, marking a clear failure of the attempt to steer public opinion.

Outlook: This war of words will continue to escalate in the run-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the political cost of cutting and freezing the state affairs fund is now falling back on the KMT-TPP camp.