Taiwanese business owners in China are pushing for easier travel home, a small but telling sign of how thin cross-strait air links have become.

• Business association heads from Shandong met Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation in Taipei and asked for Lunar New Year charter flights from Jinan.
• Only Qingdao currently has direct flights to Taiwan, so Shandong's 16 business associations face long overland trips to reach a flight home.
• SEF chairman Su Jia-chyuan said the foundation will look into the request and help within existing rules.
• Taiwanese business owners in China were framed as a bridge for keeping cross-strait relations peaceful.

Outlook: Any new Jinan route would need approval on both sides, so expect talks rather than a quick decision before the holiday.