The confrontation between Taiwan's Executive Yuan and Legislative Yuan has escalated once again — a source of pressure for the KMT-TPP camp, and a position of forced defence for the governing Executive Yuan.

• The Legislative Yuan, where the Kuomintang and the Taiwan People's Party hold a majority, has pushed through bills and budget cuts that are seen as the true starting point of the conflict.
• The Executive Yuan's countermeasures, such as requesting reconsideration of bills and seeking constitutional interpretation, are a response rather than a source of disorder.
• Placing the blame on the Executive Yuan mistakes effect for cause, obscuring who changed the rules of the game first.
• The deadlock between the two branches is holding up the workings of government, with both the budget and policy implementation affected.

Outlook: The impasse is unlikely to be resolved in the short term, and the contest may well return to the battlegrounds of constitutional interpretation and the budget.