As the Taipei mayoral race warms up, DPP candidate Puma Shen is extending his reach overseas — a boost for mobilising green-camp supporters and a fresh source of pressure on the blue camp.

• Shen is planning a visit to Japan focused on parliamentary diplomacy and city diplomacy, and will set up an overseas support group to gather the views of expatriates.
• He singled out Tokyo's urban renewal and sports venue policies as worth emulating in Taipei.
• Former President Tsai Ing-wen accompanied him to the election commission to collect his registration papers, effectively lending her weight to his campaign.
• On the case of Chiang Wan-an's son, who holds US citizenship yet was accepted into a city government exchange programme, Shen focused on conflict-of-interest avoidance, criticising the city government for dealing with everything only after problems arise.
• He again denied having said that "going to China for exchanges is united front work," stressing that his point was to remind the public to be alert to the risk that China treats such exchanges as united front work.

Outlook: The Japan trip and the overseas support groups will be the main themes of Shen's campaigning ahead, and the dispute over his remarks on cross-strait exchanges is expected to continue to reverberate through the race.