Taiwan's labor minister will become the first cabinet-level official to visit China under the Lai Ching-te government, and Beijing plans to quietly issue him a Chinese travel permit he never asked for — a symbolic win for China's "one China" line.

• Hung Sun-han will attend the APEC human resources ministers' meeting in Nanjing in late September.
• He will enter using the APEC invitation letter, not a Chinese-issued travel document.
• Beijing intends to process a Taiwan compatriot permit on his behalf without his involvement, treating him as a Chinese citizen.
• Taipei's Mainland Affairs Council says entry and exit will follow standard APEC practice, and the foreign and labor ministries are tracking it.
• Handling travel papers for delegates is routine at big international meetings; the fight here is over what China says it means.

Outlook: The trip should go ahead as planned, with both sides claiming the arrangement proves their own position ahead of the APEC leaders' summit in Shenzhen in November.