TAIPEI, Feb 16 A Taiwan judge has ordered President Chen Shui-bian to pay T$ 3 million in

TAIPEI, Feb 16 (Reuters) A Taiwan judge has ordered President Chen Shui-bian to pay T$3 million in damages after accusing the leader of a minor party of secretly meeting a Chinese official which in turn caused a political scandal.

Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Chen had made a thinly sourced remark about People First Party Chairman James Soong in 2005 by accusing him of secretly meeting the director of the Chinese government's Taiwan Affairs Office.

Soong has said the meeting never took place.

China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. Beijing has vowed to bring the self-governed democracy of 23 million people back under mainland rule, by force if necessary.

Chen's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is considered independence-leaning but Soong is sympathetic to eventual reunification with a democratic China. Any talk of secret meetings with officials from Beijing could suggest some sort of sell-out, analysts said.

''The source of the president's information was inappropriate for a head of state,'' court spokesman Liu Shou-sung said today.

''It wasn't common sourcing.'' The judge also ordered Chen to publish an apology in three mass-circulation Taiwan newspapers, Liu said.

Chen intends to appeal the ruling, which followed more than a year of court hearings, spokesman David Lee said.

''His lawyer has indicated we will appeal, but we're still researching it,'' Lee said. ''He had his source. He had his information.'' Soong was not completely satisfied with the court ruling, his spokesman, Lee Hung-chun, said.

''He thinks this is really hard to take. His name was cleared, but he wasn't given justice.'' REUTERS PB VC1120