KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun will skip the Presidential Office's National Day ceremony and attend a flag-raising event in Kaohsiung instead, a move read as a deliberate attempt to distance herself from the ruling party, with a broadly neutral effect on the mood surrounding blue-white cooperation.

• Cheng Li-wun will not attend tomorrow's National Day ceremony at the Presidential Office, going to Kaohsiung for a flag-raising event instead.
• Huang Kuo-chang offered an explanation on Cheng's behalf, saying she wants the focus not to rest on Taipei alone, so that National Day enthusiasm is felt in both the north and the south.
• With the local elections entering the final stretch, Huang Kuo-chang has been campaigning in Xizhi and Sanchong for Taiwan People's Party city council candidates, and Lee Si-chuan has also recorded video endorsements.
• The Ministry of Finance said that if the general budget bill clears its third reading in early January next year, the NT$10,000 universal cash handout could be deposited before the Lunar New Year, with an estimated 23.53 million people benefiting — though the key bottleneck is the pace of review in the Legislative Yuan.
• Former President Tsai Ing-wen met Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco, stressing that Taiwan must commit more resources to defense; the Ministry of National Defense also noted that Chinese maritime militia vessels have expanded their activities in waters east of Taiwan under the guise of law enforcement and scientific research.

Outlook: With the campaign heating up after National Day, whether the cash handout can be distributed before the Lunar New Year will become the next focal point of contention between the governing and opposition camps.