A Taiwan People's Party city councilor accused the military of using its weekly training program to air a video featuring Taipei mayoral candidate Puma Shen, calling it covert election interference, but the Defense Ministry says the clip is old and unrelated to the current race.

• The ministry confirmed it aired a media-literacy segment featuring Shen back in April 2024, meant to train soldiers to spot Chinese disinformation, not to influence this month's local elections.
• Officials say the training program regularly invites outside experts, including lawmakers and officials, to teach on their areas of expertise, and insist the military stays neutral and stays out of politics.
• Separately, Taiwan's defense minister confirmed Chinese naval forces, including a carrier group, have been running "area denial" drills in the Western Pacific, adding to tension around Taiwan.
• The same minister said authorities will tighten counter-infiltration and security screening for military personnel after reports that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's alleged mistress was tied to Chinese espionage activity and had visited Taiwan with him multiple times.
• A new poll shows the New Taipei mayoral race tightening to a 3-point gap between the ruling and opposition party candidates, within the margin of error, with both camps disputing whose internal numbers are more reliable.

Outlook: Expect the military-neutrality controversy to fade as a non-story, while the espionage concerns around Nvidia's Huang keep pressure on Taiwan's security agencies ahead of the vote.