The Taipei mayoral race has entered its registration phase, and while the Blue and Green camps briefly toned down the hostilities at the Election Commission venue, the overall contest remains highly tense.

• DPP candidate Puma Shen unexpectedly ran into Sean Lien, who was accompanying Lee Ming-hsuan to register. The two discovered they were senior and junior alumni of Fuhsing Senior High School, and Lien joked that he now felt awkward about criticising Shen any further.
• Shortly before the registration, Lien had sharply criticised Shen, saying that if he took charge of city hall he would turn Taipei into an environment of witch hunts and pile-ons.
• The Green camp made a show of force with Tsai Ing-wen in attendance and 26 city council candidates registering in matching beige suits. Kao Chia-yu, who was not wearing the jacket, was accused by the Blue camp of deliberately keeping her distance from Shen.
• Talks between the Blue and White camps on a joint candidate for mayor of Zhubei in Hsinchu broke down, with Huang Kuo-chang publicly taking a jab at the other side for not keeping its word, leaving the prospects for cooperation unclear.
• Lai Ching-te has told his party not to over-interpret the state of the race, while controversies over the military pay budget and the Presidential Office's Mid-Autumn Festival gift boxes continue to simmer.

Outlook: With about three months to go until the vote, candidate coordination among the Blue, Green and White camps and the battle over the budget are expected to continue setting the pace of the campaign.