Taiwan's constitutional fight is escalating on both sides, with a senior DPP elder calling both camps out of line and urging a grand bargain instead of a power struggle.

• Former DPP chairman Hsu Hsin-liang said the cabinet cannot use the countersignature power to veto parliament's decisions — that power is aimed at the president, not the legislature.
• He still blamed the KMT-led opposition majority for breaking the constitution first, calling the standoff a raw power fight rather than a legal one.
• His argument: Taiwan copied the French semi-presidential model in the 1990s, and under that model parliament cannot propose bills that raise spending or cut revenue.
• He wants both parties to strike a deal like the 1990 national affairs conference, including sharing the power to nominate constitutional court judges.
• He rejected giving the legislature back a veto over the premier, saying that would turn the elected president into a figurehead.

Outlook: With the bar for amending the constitution far too high to clear, the deadlock will likely keep playing out through blocked bills and court fights unless the two parties agree to negotiate.