I'm in Nanning again now, and going between here and the US really is quite annoying. The problem is the airlines that serve logical connecting points (like TPE or HKG) aren't the same airlines that can take me across the Pacific. I'm not sure opening up Taiwan to PRC nationals would change the market dynamics enough to justify BR or CI trying it out Nanning and places like it. After all, HKG has no such restriction, and KA hasn't been able to sustain many of its tier 2 city routes (though it does still place its code on a fair number of them).