Lu said foreigners were welcome to contribute ideas on how to solve the Taiwan issue, but that it was up to the island's 23 million people to decide their future.

''Foreign dignitaries may give us some suggestions, but they please should not guide or decide our future,'' Lu said when asked to comment on Lee's upcoming trip to Taiwan.

There is widespread speculation that Lee, who is well connected in China and Taiwan, might attempt to help jump-start dialogue between Beijing and Taiwan's new government, which is led by the independence-minded Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

In an apparent swipe at the Singapore government, which retains tight control over the media, Lu said, ''Taiwan is a thoroughly free and democratic country.''

The outspoken vice president also advised Lee to tour the island to understand the thinking of the Taiwan people instead of ''hiding somewhere and transmitting messages or give some directions,'' according to the semi-official Central News Agency.

Lee, who is slated to arrive in Taiwan on September 23, is expected to meet with representatives of the island's major political parties.

Lee, a supporter of the Greater China idea, has frequently warned Taiwan leaders, including former President Lee Teng-hui, against moving toward formal independence.

In the recently published second volume of his memoirs, Lee called on Chinese leaders not to force unification on Taiwan.

Lee played a major role in the arrangement of the first-ever top-level talks between Taiwan and China in Singapore in 1993.