Taiwan's Taipei mayoral race is heating up as DPP candidate Shen Bo-yang rejects a rival's claim that his campaign momentum is manufactured, in a sign of how tight and personal the race has become with just over a month until voting.

• Former TPP chair Ko Wen-je compared Shen's "ocean current" momentum to the earlier "Han wave" phenomenon, suggesting it can be engineered with enough money and resources.
• Shen countered that the momentum already existed in society before him and isn't something packaging or marketing could create, inviting Ko to come see for himself.
• Shen's campaign vehicle has been fitted with bulletproof glass, which he linked to normal security steps taken as elections get tense, alongside concerns about China's increasingly frequent cross-border pressure tactics.
• Separately, Shen launched a "Taipei programming team" after an online city-governance brainstorming session, aiming to build a process so good policy ideas on things like tree care, pest control, and trash collection don't get lost after public input is given.

Outlook: Expect the rhetorical sparring between Shen and Ko's camp to continue as Taipei's November 28 mayoral vote approaches.