Taiwan's labor minister will travel to China later this month for an APEC meeting, and Beijing is refusing to say whether he must carry a Chinese-issued travel permit — a small but loaded signal about how China frames Taiwan's status.

• Labor Minister Hung Shen-han will attend the APEC human resources ministers' meeting in Nanjing in late September, the first minister-level official to visit China under the Lai government.
• Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office would only say entry will follow the "one China principle" and long-standing APEC arrangements, dodging the question of the travel permit.
• The permit matters because requiring one would treat a Taiwanese minister as a Chinese citizen rather than a foreign official.
• China separately approved three more pomelo orchards and packing plants from Yunlin for export ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival, an easing gesture aimed at Taiwanese farmers.

Outlook: Expect the entry-permit question to stay unanswered until the trip itself, with the APEC leaders' summit in Shenzhen in November setting up a bigger test.