TAIWAN

Some Chinese Businessmen to Be Invited: Taiwan has decided in principle to allow businessmen from China to visit, to curb abuses of permits intended for cultural and academic trips, a senior government official said. The move came a day after the Cabinet approved a Communications Ministry request for a study of technical problems involved in direct transport links with China. Officials said that approval did not herald a change in a longstanding government ban on direct relations between Taiwan and the mainland. The preliminary decision by officials of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), which handles official policy toward China, would permit Chinese involved in the agriculture, business and communications sectors to visit Taiwan, MAC Vice Chairman Kao Koong-lian told reporters.