A former Taiwan People's Party lawmaker's run for mayor of Zhubei has reopened a fight inside her own party over whether she has legally given up her Chinese nationality — a problem for her campaign before it starts.

• Li Chen-hsiu announced on Facebook that she will run for mayor of Zhubei, throwing an already crowded race into more confusion.
• TPP central committee member and Taichung councillor Chiang Ho-shu, from her own party, publicly asked whether she has cancelled her Chinese household registration and renounced Chinese nationality.
• Her nationality was already a fight when she was a lawmaker, and it limited her access to classified material.
• The challenge is framed as loyalty, not prejudice: a mayor controls a city's administration and sensitive information, so the question should be settled before the campaign, not during it.
• Whether she meets the election commission's rules for Chinese-spouse candidates is now the first hurdle she has to clear.

Outlook: Expect pressure on Li to produce documents proving she gave up Chinese nationality, with the election commission's eligibility ruling likely to decide whether her campaign survives.