Taiwan's year-end local elections kick off in Taipei this week, with both major parties staging their candidate registrations as show-of-force events.

• Shen Po-yang, the DPP's candidate for Taipei mayor, registers Wednesday with former president Tsai Ing-wen at his side.
• Tsai's presence is a deliberate boost — she is registered as a Taipei resident, and her security detail is shaping the timing.
• Incumbent KMT mayor Chiang Wan-an, running for a second term, is expected to register Thursday morning alongside the party's city council candidates.
• Chiang heads straight from that to city council questioning, which is running this week.
• On Sept 12 the KMT plans to appear with the Taiwan People's Party at a council candidate's campaign launch, possibly bringing Chiang together with TPP chairman Huang Kuo-chang.

Outlook: Expect the blue-white cooperation question to dominate the next stretch of the race, with the Sept 12 joint appearance the first real test of whether the KMT and TPP campaign as one against the DPP.