TAIPEI - SENIOR officials from Taiwan and China are scheduled to hold high-level talks this week on the autonomous island in a further sign of warming ties between the traditional rivals.

Beijing's top negotiator Chen Yunlin is set to arrive in Taipei on Monday for the talks which will focus on expanding air and shipping links and postal services, as well as food safety issues.

Mr Chen and his Taiwanese counterpart, Mr Chiang Ping Kun, met in Beijing in June for the first direct dialogue between the two sides in ten years.

Those talks, which came after Taiwan's pro-independence former president Chen Shui-bian was defeated in elections, led to the launch of regular direct flights between China and the island, and measures to boost tourism.

Mr Chen, head of China's quasi-official Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), is also likely to meet Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou, who took office in May.

ARATS is authorised by Beijing to handle civilian exchanges with Taipei in the absence of official contacts.

'I will probably meet with him (Chen Yunlin),' Mr Ma, who was elected on a pro-Beijing platform, said in a recent television interview.

'The meeting will lay an important basis to promote cross-strait peace.'

Analysts said this week's talks will mark a significant step forward in cross-strait relations as they build on the June meetings, and show concrete progress after a scheduled meeting in Taipei in 1999 was scrapped amid acrimony over the island's sovereignty.

'Mr Chen's visit to Taiwan is a landmark development in cross-strait ties,' said Professor Wu Nengyuan, a Taiwan expert at China's Fujian Academy of Social Science.

'The agreements will give a major boost to Taiwan's economy and trade.'

Prof Wu Tung Yeh, political science professor at National Chengchi University, said the visit would help pave the way for eventual political talks.

'Taiwan and China are working on economic issues first and the politics later - they have to tackle the easy task before moving on to the difficult one,' said Prof Wu, noting that both sides have said politics do not feature on this week's agenda.

Taipei and Beijing are set to sign agreements to increase direct passenger flights, open direct cargo flights and shipping links, as well as shortening existing flight routes across the Taiwan Strait, officials said.

Also on the agenda are food safety issues after tainted Chinese milk products sickened at least three Taiwanese children and one woman, prompting Taiwan, along with many countries worldwide, to ban dairy imports from China.

Mr Chen's visit will come amid heightened security, after his deputy Zhang Mingqing was shoved to the ground in a fray two weeks ago in southern Taiwan - a stronghold of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Last month, up to half a million DPP supporters took to Taipei's streets to denounce closer ties with Beijing, which they said threatened the island's sovereignty.

The DPP has vowed to stage protests throughout Mr Chen's five-day stay here, with some 7,000 police on duty, the National Police Agency has said.

There is wide public division on whether Mr Chen's visit will benefit Taiwan, according to a recent survey by local television station TVBS.

The survey found 33 per cent of 901 people polled agreed Taiwan would benefit while 22 per cent disagreed, and another 23 per cent saw no impact at all.

'I think China will emerge as the winner of the talks by pulling off a major propaganda coup with Taiwan,' said Professor Hsu Yung Ming, a political pundit at Soochow University in Taipei.

'It is also a chance for Beijing to prove to the international community that it can resolve cross-strait conflicts,' he said.

China and Taiwan split after a civil war in 1949 and Beijing regards the island as a renegade province awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

Trade and travel ties were severely limited until Mr Ma became president following eight years of strained relations under the DPP government. -- AFP