Taiwan’s labour minister Hung Sun-han left for China on Sunday to attend an APEC (regional economic cooperation forum) human resources ministerial meeting in Nanjing, marking the first ministerial-level visit by President Lai Ching-te’s administration. The trip comes as Beijing rejects Lai’s repeated offers of talks, calls him a “separatist” and conducts almost daily military activity around Taiwan. China is hosting APEC this year, with a leaders summit scheduled for November in Shenzhen. Taiwan participates under the name “Chinese Taipei” and has not announced who will attend the summit. Its president does not attend the leaders meeting to avoid political complications, instead sending former officials or business leaders such as Morris Chang, founder of TSMC.