A former foreign correspondent's claim that votes in Taiwan's Hualien county are routinely bought has set off a political fight, with the accusation left unattached to any party but landing squarely on the local KMT power base.

• Cindy Sui, a former Financial Times reporter based in Hualien, said in an interview that all the votes there are bought.
• Fu Kun-chi, the KMT caucus leader and a Hualien lawmaker, demanded to know why she did not report it on the spot if she saw neighbours with cash on the table.
• Fu called her a partner in the crime for staying quiet, saying it insults Taiwan's courts, police and voters, and noted vote-buying can be prosecuted for 20 years.
• DPP lawmaker Chen Pei-yu shot back that no party or politician was named, so Fu was pointing the finger at himself and clearly has something to hide.

Outlook: Expect the row to stay a war of words unless prosecutors take up the vote-buying claim, which so far rests on no named case.