A Taichung city delegation is heading to China for a trade fair, and the opposition is reading it as groundwork for mayor Lu Shiow-yen's future China policy.

• Deputy mayor Cheng Chao-hsin will lead a group to the Taiwan Excellence expo in Dongguan on September 2.
• The trip is framed as pure business — helping Taichung's precision machinery makers and gift producers sell abroad.
• Green camp politicians suspect it is really a test run for a China visit by mayor Lu Shiow-yen herself.
• Dongguan hosts one of the largest Taiwanese business communities in China, many of them from Taichung.
• The city says the fair has run for 17 years, other local governments join too, and the central government was notified in advance.

Outlook: Attention will stay on whether Lu Shiow-yen eventually makes her own trip to China, which the city says is not currently planned.