Taiwan is sending a cabinet minister to China for the first time under the Lai government, and Taipei is playing down both the security risk and Beijing's framing of the trip.

• Labor Minister Hung Shen-han will attend the APEC human resources ministers' meeting in Nanjing in late September, the first minister-level visit to China under President Lai.
• Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office said it will handle "the Taiwan region's" participation under the "one China" principle and APEC rules.
• Taipei's response: simply showing up and speaking at APEC already proves the Republic of China exists, so no special declaration is needed.
• Taiwanese officials enter China on APEC invitation letters, not Chinese-issued travel permits, and several have already attended meetings this year without incident.
• Taiwan is a full APEC member and expects China, as host, to follow the same treatment past hosts have given it.

Outlook: Attention now shifts to whether Beijing sticks to standard APEC practice in Nanjing, a dry run for the leaders' summit in Shenzhen in November.