The Taipei mayoral race has sparked a debate over how the blue and green camps cultivate talent — one that reflects poorly on the Kuomintang.

• Lawyer Lin Chih-chun criticised the KMT for basing promotions on bloodline and factional ties rather than ability.
• The row began after Puma Shen ran into KMT Vice Chairman Sean Lien by chance, and it emerged that one of Lien's assistants had been Shen's senior at the University of Pennsylvania.
• With similar backgrounds studying in the United States, one became a party-list legislator for the DPP and a Taipei mayoral candidate, while the other is merely an assistant in the KMT.
• Yin Wei, a core aide to Chiang Wan-an, holds multiple overseas master's and doctoral degrees, yet can only serve as a behind-the-scenes "shadow warrior".
• Blue-camp pundits were saying a decade ago that the KMT had no visible successors, and the controversy has now resurfaced.

Outlook: Questions over the talent gap and the dominance of political dynasties are set to become a focal point of attack and defence in the Taipei mayoral race.