Taiwan delays trips by mainland Chinese scholars in fresh setback for cross-strait visits

Scheduled visits to Taiwan by two mainland Chinese academic delegations in recent days have been postponed due to obstacles imposed by Taipei, according to Taiwanese media.

One of the delegations, led by Xiamen University’s Graduate Institute for Taiwan Studies (GIFTS), had been scheduled to visit Taiwan last Thursday for academic exchanges, Taiwan’s United Daily News (UDN) reported.

A separate delegation, led by the president of Xiamen University, had been scheduled to visit Taiwan today, but that trip was also postponed pending approval, according to the report on Friday.

Taiwanese authorities postponed the visits saying the delegations’ applications had yet to be approved, and that the trips would be pushed back to October, the report said.

UDN cited sources suggesting that the delay might be due to “technical obstacles” created by Taiwanese authorities, and potentially linked to internal disagreements between different departments handling the case.