The Taipei mayoral race is heating up, and the controversy over Chiang Wan-an's son securing a place in a city government–funded exchange student programme has left him labelled as benefiting from "special privilege" — bad news for the Blue camp.

• Writer Wang Hao has drawn a parallel between this controversy and Sean Lien's election defeat in 2014, when voters' distaste for "daddy's boys" and the privileged elite was the decisive factor.
• The DPP has already set its sights on Chiang Wan-an, with Puma Shen and Kaohsiung's Lai Jui-lung issuing challenges to him one after another, signalling that the Green camp sees him as easy to score points against.
• Street interviews show that his supporters value him as "more practical," while his opponents say Taipei has made no progress.
• New Taipei City has become another key battleground: the latest polls put Lee Si-chuan about 6 percentage points ahead of Su Chiao-hui, and the Blue camp is also facing internal conflict after the collapse of "Blue-White cooperation" in Zhubei.
• The external variable is US-China relations. Xi Jinping is expected to visit the United States in late September for another meeting with Trump, at which the Taiwan issue will be put on the table.

Outlook: With less than three months to go before the local elections, whether Chiang Wan-an can shake off the image of "Crown Prince An" will determine whether Taipei changes hands.