A Taiwanese commentator's push-back on an essay by exiled Chinese dissident Wuer Kaixi has turned into a wider fight over which party can be trusted to stand up to Beijing — a negative sign for the opposition KMT ahead of the next vote.

• Wuer Kaixi, a leader of China's 1989 Tiananmen protests who has lived in Taiwan for 30 years, argued in a column that the DPP is not owed Taiwanese votes.
• Anti-China activist Hsu Mei-hua answered that she backs the DPP not out of debt but out of need, calling it the only party still willing to resist Chinese pressure and defend democracy.
• She named KMT chair Cheng Li-wun and lawmakers including Fu Kun-chi as figures she believes want to turn Taiwanese into Chinese citizens.
• Hsu deleted her original comments after friends said Wuer Kaixi does not support the KMT-TPP bloc, but she still blamed the column's headline for stirring the row.
• She said she hopes someone inside the opposition wakes up and becomes a home-grown check on power that also protects Taiwan.

Outlook: Expect the identity fight over who really defends Taiwan from Beijing to sharpen as budget battles and the next election cycle heat up.