Taiwan seeks steps from China before granting visa

TAIPEI, Aug 22 (Reuters) China's top Taiwan policy maker formally applied this week for a Taiwan visa, but the government in Taipei wants China first to discuss ways to stop fake made-in-Taiwan labels for fruit and tea, an official said today.

Chen Yunlin, director of the Chinese government's Taiwan Affairs Office, applied for a visa yesterday via the island's Nationalist Party, which wants Chen and 65 other Chinese to attend an agricultural summit in October, said Corinna Wei, spokeswoman for Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council.

The Nationalist Party has been courting Chinese officials to build stronger economic ties, but the Taiwan government, controlled by the rival Democratic Progressive Party, does not want the island to get too close to China, which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that should be reunited by force if necessary.

Wei said that before Chen might be allowed to visit, China should first discuss ''harm'' caused to Taiwan farmers by what Wei said were fake Taiwan labels placed on tea and subtropical fruits grown and sold in China.

''If such a high-level official is going to come, we need to talk first,'' Wei said. ''They need to show respect.'' Taiwan business people filed 58 of the 365 civil piracy cases in China in 2004, according to Lovells law firm in Shanghai. But sources in the Taiwan government told Reuters that Taiwan farmers are sometimes behind the fake labelling of fruits sold in China, where some consumers associate Taiwan's products with better flavour.

REUTERS DKA BS1100