The selection of Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an's 15-year-old son for a government-funded exchange programme in the United States has sparked accusations of "privilege," but the fight over the issue may do the Green camp more harm than good.

• The Democratic Progressive Party has questioned whether conflict-of-interest rules were observed when Chiang Wan-an's son secured one of the scarce exchange-student places, and the controversy continues to escalate.
• Kuo Cheng-liang argues that, without evidence that Chiang Wan-an intervened in the Department of Education's selection process, attacking a politician's underage child will only antagonise voters.
• Taipei candidate Puma Shen's aggressive pursuit of the case has been read as a sign that he lacks a substantive municipal policy platform and cannot take on Chiang Wan-an directly.
• The Taipei and New Taipei races are linked, and if the fighting spreads to politicians' family members, the Blue camp could hit back in ways that would affect Su Chiao-hui in New Taipei.
• Meanwhile, Blue-White cooperation has collapsed in Hsinchu County and Zhubei City, with the Taiwan People's Party ordering its officials and elected representatives not to appear at campaign events for Hsu Hsin-ying, on pain of expulsion from the party.

Outlook: Ahead of the nine-in-one local elections on 28 November, disputes over candidates' family members and Blue-White infighting are expected to continue setting the tempo of the races in Taipei, New Taipei and Hsinchu.