For those familiar with People First Party chairman James Soong Chu-yu, his speech at Tsinghua University was a surprise.
The opposition leader is known as a passionate speaker and relentless campaigner, but during his 40-minute address he more resembled an indifferent professor.
His delivery was uncharacteristically flat, with the veteran grass-roots politician often resorting to reading directly from his script.
He appeared nervous, and was forced to correct himself after misspeaking several times.
At one point, he said Taiwan independence instead of Taiwan identity, and immediately repeated - twice - that he meant the latter.
Mr Soong did try to energise the address by speaking three languages - English; Minnan, the local dialect in Taiwan; and Hakka, which is commonly used in provinces such as Fujian - in addition to Mandarin.
He even made a reference to former US president John F.Kennedy, paraphrasing his most famous quote: 'Ask me not what I am saying here in Beijing. Ask only what we are doing in Taiwan.'
