Cooperation between the Taiwan People's Party and the Kuomintang in the mayoral election for Zhubei City, Hsinchu County, has broken down, damaging mutual trust between the two parties — bad news for blue-white integration ahead of next year's local elections.

• Blue-white negotiations over the Zhubei mayoral race have collapsed, with the TPP demanding that KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun handle the matter directly rather than fobbing it off on a spokesperson.
• All candidates in the KMT's Zhubei primary signed a consent form whose terms were clearly spelled out, and the TPP maintains that KMT headquarters must clean up its own mess.
• The TPP says it has yet to be contacted by KMT headquarters, with only Hsinchu County Magistrate Yang Wen-ke expressing concern privately; trust is hard to build up, yet a whole forest has been burned down over a single tree.
• On the Changhua County magistrate race, the TPP has stated it will not field its own candidate and will instead put all its efforts into winning county council seats, while cautioning that the KMT must first resolve its own problems in Changhua.
• On the Taichung mayoral race, Ko Wen-je has said he personally supports Johnny Chiang, the KMT's candidate, noting that the two have had dealings in the past.

Outlook: Whether the blue-white relationship can be repaired hinges on whether KMT headquarters takes the initiative to come to the negotiating table in the near future; otherwise the rift will carry over into integration efforts in other counties and cities.