Four surviving founders of Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party reunited ahead of the party's 40th anniversary and warned that Taiwan's constitutional democracy is struggling to function — a negative signal for the island's political stability.

• Former DPP chairman Frank Hsieh, along with You Ching, Chou Ching-yu and legislative speaker-turned-elder You Si-kun, met at Taipei's Grand Hotel, the site where the party was founded in 1986.
• They are the last four of the original ten-person founding group; five members have died and Chen Chu is in poor health.
• The group said the current deadlock in Taiwan's legislature has left the constitutional system unable to run smoothly, calling it deeply worrying.
• You Ching circulated a short essay urging the party to defend the democratic constitutional order in the spirit of its founding.
• The reunion comes as the DPP prepares to mark its 40th anniversary on September 28.

Outlook: Expect the legislative standoff between the DPP government and the opposition-controlled legislature to remain a central political flashpoint through the anniversary and beyond.