Taiwan's representative office in Thailand has publicly accused China's embassy of hijacking a long-running lecture series in Bangkok to push unification propaganda — a sharp escalation in the two sides' fight for influence over overseas Chinese communities.

• The "Sun Yat-sen Lecture," held by Thailand's Chinese association for close to 30 years, was turned into a political platform this year, Taiwan says.
• For the first time, China's ambassador to Thailand attended and spoke, calling for "unity around unification."
• Taiwan says a small group inside the association broke an earlier board agreement to keep politics out of the event.
• Taipei is now reviewing all its cooperation and funding with the association and hinted at further countermeasures.
• Taiwan's office named the association's chairman and organizers directly and said Thailand is a sovereign democracy, not a place China can mobilize at will.

Outlook: Expect Taiwan to cut back support for the association while both sides keep competing for the loyalty of Thailand's ethnic Chinese community.