Foreign media is reporting on tensions within Taiwan's largest opposition
party ahead of local elections fast approaching.

The report on divisions within the KMT centers around two increasingly
evident camps, one coalescing around chair Cheng Li Wen...

and the other around outgoing Taichung Mayor Lu Xiu Yan and the KMT
legislative caucus.

Nikkei Asia reports that infighting is undermining the KMT's electoral
prospects, as the party fails to coordinate heavyweights.

Sources say that the Cheng-centered coalition has aimed to block or downsize
defense spending proposals put forward by the Lai administration, drawing
criticism from the US and other more Taiwan-friendly governments.

Insiders say that, despite outwardly claiming to be making those cuts for the
sake of accountability, some KMT figures have privately aimed to deflect
crticism of these policies towards Zheng...

attempting to shift responsibility to the chair rather than the party as a
whole.

Foreign officials say, the strategy appears to be largely successful, as the
US seems convinced that, when someone else takes over for Zheng at some
point, the party will deliver on defense reforms.