Chen Shui-bian has issued a warning to the Democratic Progressive Party, saying that counting on a split between the KMT and the TPP to win this year's year-end elections is a dangerous idea — bad news for the DPP's campaign strategy.

• Chen described the current state of the KMT-TPP relationship as a "waking-up moment," but stressed that the split is only temporary and that the two will end up cooperating in the end.
• He drew on his own experience: in the three-way contest for Taipei mayor in 1994, he led Jaw Shaw-kong in the polls from start to finish, winning on his own strength rather than on his opponents' division.
• In the 2000 presidential election, when James Soong left the KMT to run, Soong's polling at one point exceeded the combined total of the other four candidates — yet Chen still fought his way back and overturned the deficit within six months.
• His conclusion is blunt: an opponent's fractures get stitched back together as interests are realigned, and strengthening one's own fighting capacity is the only insurance policy.
• Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an, meanwhile, has faced controversy after his son was accepted as a publicly funded exchange student in the United States, and has announced that he will voluntarily forgo the Department of Education subsidy to clear his name.

Outlook: With only a few months to go before the year-end local elections, whether the KMT and the TPP can join forces will be the key variable shaping the race.