Recent high-profile spats between Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and DPP government officials have led many political watchers to question whether there's a broader campaign to target the popular KMT mayor.
Critics say DPP officials are opposing Ma on a variety of policy fronts just to score political points.
But others say that in disputes involving the Taipei mayor, it's just politics as usual.
One ongoing fight involves the city and Taipei County's turf war over rights to the Feitsui Reservoir, which is located in the county but was built and is managed by the city.
On Aug. 23, DPP county officials announced plans to hold a ceremony to mark a new distribution arrangement, in which the county's Panchiao and Chungho areas would receive an additional 120,000 tonnes of water from the reservoir daily.
Invited to the event was President Chen Shui-bian (
After the announcement, a war of words ensued and the ceremony was eventually cancelled.
County officials have criticized the city for politicizing an issue vital to residents' livelihood, while the city has called the county "clueless" about the situation.
Cities square off
Another spat involved a Cabinet decision to give Kaohsiung City a greater share of the nation's tax redistribution fund, meaning less money for Taipei.
The two cities divide 43 percent of the fund between them. Of that amount, the government said Kaohsiung would receive 29 percent, up from 26 percent.
Meanwhile, Taipei would receive 71 percent, down from 74 percent -- which works out to NT$1.4 billion less in revenue.
To make the change more palatable, the Cabinet also promised Taipei NT$1 billion from other sources -- reducing the bottom-line impact to the city to just NT$400 million.
On Aug. 21, Ma pleaded with the Cabinet not to cut Taipei City's share of the tax redistribution fund.
The Cabinet on Aug. 30 decided in favor of Kaohsiung, leading Ma to say the change was made for political reasons instead of professional ones.
Another fight between Taipei and Kaohsiung was over which city was to host the final of the 34th Baseball World Cup.
Kaohsiung lost its bid to host the baseball competition's final after the chief of the International Baseball Federation on July 27 said the event would remain in Taipei as scheduled.
KMT city councilwoman Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) said that it was obvious that the series of altercations was politically motivated and orchestrated by DPP.
"Because of Ma's overwhelming popularity, he has become Chen's No. 1 hypothetical enemy in his re-election bid," she said.
Lin said that she wasn't sure whether Chen had personally ordered the attacks against Ma, but they were unfair nevertheless.
Potential rival
"But it seems too early to see Ma as a potential competitor," she said. "After all, the presidential election is three years away and Ma has made it clear that he's not interested in running for the presidency."
New Party City Councillor Lee Hsin (李新) said Ma has become the favorite whipping boy of the DPP.
"The DPP is inclined to launch attacks against Ma, especially during an election period, because it cannot afford to see anyone who has the potential of coming to power get in the way," Lee said.
"Some of their arguments in the disputes might make sense, but most are politically motivated," he said.
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